


Harry Potter and the Deck Master

by Key_and_WolfStar_SCA



Series: Deck Master [2]
Category: Cardcaptor Sakura, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: All Cannon Relationships, Asexuality, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Hints at F/F, M/M, Other, Spiderweb Effect, Swinging Preferences
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 14:31:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 82,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4670183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Key_and_WolfStar_SCA/pseuds/Key_and_WolfStar_SCA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakura, age 11, was far from a normal little girl. Still, despite living in a household overrun with magical creations and strange occurrences, she did her best to live a quiet, normal life. But then why, oh why, does power have to be so good at attracting trouble? Just when she thought her life had settled down, a strange letter whisks her away on a totally new set of adventures.</p>
<p>When Harry Potter was 11, he discovered magic existed. When he was 12, he discovered that he was a parslemouth. When he was 13, he discovered he had a Godfather. When he was 14, he discovered he could see inside the Dark Lord's mind. Now he is 15, having witnessed death, resurrection, betrayal, and the cusp of a war, what more could the world throw at him? ...Shoot, maybe he is crazy...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Notes on Culture and Characterization

Harry Potter and the Deck Master

Notes on Culture and Characterization

_This section is not a must-read, and indeed it may even bore some fans that do not care for such things, but for those fans who are interested, this is just a section where I explain the cultures and histories created for this story. The aim of this section is to explain many questions the general public has asked as well as to just share a world that took much thought and planning to build, that I fear may never be able to fit neatly into the storyline. This section should grow as more ideas come and details are let out into the writing, and sadly at the moment is mainly Card Captor Sakura-centric, so please, if you wish to read it, and then check back on it from time to time. Also, though all these highly thought out ideas are free to the public's use, some level of mention if you take something directly would be appreciate..._

_(December 2011) As it's been a few years since I started this, my writing and ideas have evolved somewhat as well, so I'm taking the time to expand on this and edit the sections to hopefully improve on what has been written here already. Also, seeing as CLAMP-verse has made it cannon that all stories that they write co-exist within the same multiverse, I shall be pulling facts from other CLAMP continuities to further explain my theories. Any and all contradictory statements, however, shall default to CCS as the primary source of cannon._

**The Theory of Magic:**

Sorcery: Alignments, and the Elements

The magic of sorcerers introduced to us in Card Captor Sakura works off the theory that magic has sources outside of one's own body which act as the drawing source of their power. Within the story, the sun and the moon were indicated as the primary sources for all magic in existence, though the title character, Sakura, drew her power from her own special star, indicating that there can be magic sources beyond the two primary ones. However, the manga also made rather clear that it was not common to have such a source of power. It is said that Clow Reed drew magic from both sun and moon equally, hence his immense power. It is also noted in the manga that since Yue uses moon magic he is unable to replenish his magic on his own, as it is merely a reflecting energy from the sun and so needs to eat a lot.

Seeing as CLAMP has an obsession for duality and balance, it can be assumed that sun magic has an equally crippling trait that has not yet been verified by cannon. However, given the nature of the source one might make an educated guess as to what that weakness may be. The sun is a source of nearly infinite energy, powering 99.9% of the life on our planet for the last 4 billion years. However, the level of energy the sun has is what makes it so dangerous. Taking this same idea into play, if a life form had such an infinite amount of energy coursing through their bodies, it would become physically impossible for their bodies to stay together. Molecules, charged with so much energy, would fly apart from each other and the person would cease to live.

That's not to say that humans go bursting apart like that, but it would be acceptable to assume that there would be problems in keeping their magic in check. Kero even said that Clow Reed could not cast small magic because of his immense power. So taking that into account, the definition can then be written that moon magic is more taxing but easier to control, and sun magic is less taxing to cast but harder to control.

Xiao Lang was yet another character from the series under the influence of the moon. He did not have the hunger problems that Yukito suffered from, indicating that it was likely exaggerated by some extent due to Yukito's Guardian status requiring more power. Xiao Lang, Sakura, and many others were drawn to Yukito because of the great force of moon magic coming from him, causing people to believe themselves in love with Yukito. Sakura's brother Touya, as well as the teacher Mizuki Kaho, were also the centre of many infatuations due to their strong magic—Kaho being a lunar attribute and Touya never being specified—though in both cases Xiao Lang has a strong dislike.

This leads to the evidence that magic can draw people does not mean that this drawing can not be fought and even reversed. Xiao Lang realized that Kaho was not a normal person, possibly even realized the class was being effected by her magic pull, and resisted her with a great deal of distrust. Yet once Xiao Lang came to understand Kaho was no threat to himself or those he cared for, his aggression towards her ended and while never entering the sate of “hanyaan” that Sakura does when around her, does appear to be polite and respectful towards her. Touya was merely a rival the whole way through, first for Yukito and later for Sakura, as well as a source of great pride bruising due to their initial meeting. This aggression directed towards him from Touya is shown to be reciprocated easily enough by Xiao Lang despite the strong magic. Whether this aggression is to do with magical aspects or if it is some sort of self defence in which you will react aggressively towards those who act aggressively towards you is yet to be decided on.

It is said that each of the Clow Cards were under either Yue or Cerberus. Light and Dark were the first under the Guardians, but the four top elements also were split between them as fire and earth under sun and water and wind under moon. As well, the fifth element of wood was placed under moon, and the commonly used sixth element from video games—which CLAMP is known to draw inspiration from—thunder was under the sun. From this, a pattern begins to emerge, but lets get back to that later. First, lets look at each of the four main elements and ponder on them for a bit.

Under sun is fire, noted by Kero as being an aggressive warrior card, it is generally associated in society as the element for passionate, emotional individuals. When left unchecked, it consumes the user in it's own flames and hurts loved ones as easily  as enemies. And yet it is also the symbol of rebirth, of cleansing the impurities, and has long been used as a tool in healing as everything from sterilizing equipment to burning wounds shut to prevent the patient from bleeding to death. 

The other under sun, the element earth, is generally viewed as strong and sturdy. The immovable mountains, the sheltering caves, and the nurturing source of food and medicines. People can be described as being rock heads, meaning them to be stubborn to the point of often being stupid, or to be like a boulder, capable of ploughing down all in their way. However, they are also the shield that guards and protects with an immovable strength.

So the sun seems to favour those who are passionate and determined, set in their ways and hard to change. Not bad traits when for the right purpose, but potentially dangerous when on the wrong subjects. Then again, that tends to be the case for most traits. Similarly, the moon has two prominent elements under it.

Water is generally viewed by the mass public as a healing, gentle, soothing element. A source of life and of vitality, as you are born from water and require water your whole life in order to live. And yet throughout history water has been seen as a force of destruction as well. From the ever prominent creation myths and flood myths from around the world, Noah's Arc being one of the most famous, to tidal waves, dangerous currents that pull you under in rivers, and many more. Water really is Moon's double-edged blade complementary to fire. It can look calm and serene like glass on the surface yet be a raging current just below. It is deep and mysterious, reflecting back what looks into it rather than showing it's true contents. It takes the easy path, yet can bring about great changes through time and patient wearing away at something.

Wind as well can be described as everything from still and calm, to playful breezes, to raging hurricanes and tornadoes. As a fluid it has no shape to call it's own, instead conforming to whatever container holds it, and seeping through every crack it can find. As shown by science, once set in motion wind can take a while to loose momentum, and will easily curve it's path to manoeuvre past all obstacles it may come across.

So judging from these observations, the moon seems to be that of fluidity, a hidden current under an invisibly calm exterior, that which is nigh impossible to perceive. Illusionists hiding behind masks, taking the smoothest course but persistent enough that they could wear away any mountain given enough time. They are the sort to fit the mold prescribed to them and leak out of your grasp through the cracks as you try to hold ever tighter on to them. Possible negative side effects of such personalities are an inability to get to know the person behind the mask, as well as potentially indecisive sorts of people if they are too fluid and lack any direction in life.

Now, for wood and thunder there are special cases. Now, it may just be my western views on things, but Wood, to me, always seemed like it ought to be a Sun element, rather than a Moon one. Wood, or plant life, needs soil, sunlight, and warmth to grow. True it requires water and air the same as any other living thing, but those are not the first qualities thought of when thinking of plants. Similarly, thunder really ought to be a Moon element, as thunder comes from storms—wind and water—and has little to do with sunlight, earth, or fire. Indeed “it was a dark and stormy night...” is so famous an opening line that most North Americans will recognize it as being a cliche opening to a tale, even if they can't place where it originated from.

So why do wood and thunder belong where they do? If you look not at how they relate to sun and moon themselves but rather how they relate to the personality types listed for each, it becomes a bit easier to understand. Wood, the nurturing mother nature, is patient and adapting. It will bend and change form depending on the obstacles and restrictions placed on it. So in that way, it fits well with Moon's wind and water. However, it is also sturdy, strong, a source of shelter and support from the harsh world around us, and in that way it is much like Sun's earth.

Thunder, on the other hand, is bold, flashy, strait to the point and loud about getting there. It's a flash and a bang that illuminates the darkness, fast and hard and full of energy. In those ways, it is very similar to fire, only more streamlined and determined like the hard-headed earth. Yet like the moon elements, it can be redirected, it's momentum changed if given the right conductor to catch it's focus instead. So examining them in this light, it can be seen how Wood is the Moon element that bridges the gap and approaches the Sun, and Thunder is the Sun element that does the same approaching the values held by the Moon.

But beyond Sun, Moon, and Star, Clow Reed and Eriol both have been noted to possess “dark” magic. Everything from the calling of the original sealing staff to Eriol’s references at the end of the manga to the nature of dark magic as opposed to Sakura's light magic indicates that there is something more to the alignment of a sorcerer than merely sun or moon. Eriol explains that dark magic can not block other magic, hence his inability to halt the visions that he claimed Sakura would not suffer from due to her light nature. Though he stopped Syaoran's attempts to locate him, whether the art shown was the spell that Syaoran was casting, or Eriol's counter-spell is the reader's discretion.

The understanding that I have come to is that dark magic cannot block magic, only cast their own spells to attack the spell attacking them. And as always in CLAMP magic, if there is one, then there must be an equal and opposite opposing force. Taking that into consideration, the most logical return weakness for the opposing light magic would be a week offence and strong, natural, defence. So what does this actually say about a character?

To answer this question, let us first examine two individuals who are not affected by the normal Moon and Sun. Eriol, as Clow was before him, is a perfect balance of moon and sun magic and so therefore is not prone to be effected by any one elemental personality trait over any other. So we can examine in him what it is to be dark magic without taking into account secondary effects. What it shows is a quiet, reserved individual that keeps out of the spotlight and acts something like a wallflower. Not that he does not act, merely that his actions are done in such a way that no attention is brought to himself. With no attention to himself, he brings on no hostility and therefore can get into position to attack without the need to defend. So, in that light, it can be said that dark magic favours the introverted individuals.

Light magic, to counter balance that statement, would then be the extraverts, and this is easily shown in Sakura's daily behaviour. Energetic, open, friendly, she deters the desire to attack through simply accepting and including everyone as friends. The centre of every group she's in, the natural star that will take over and run everything in your lives if you let her, whether it be in play or in fear she brings about the sense of endearment in others. This defensive means—avoiding confrontation through simply becoming an object of affection for the enemy—saves the need to attack. Naturally high defences can protect during the endearment stage, and act to avoid confrontational situations by dispelling negative feelings.

Cerberus and Ruby Moon are also both affiliated with light magic. They share this open, energetic nature that Sakura possesses, though still the differences of Sun and Moon can be seen. Kero is open and frank, he doesn't hold his opinion for anyone and if there is something he desires, he will pursue it without much thought of consequences. He is stubborn and determined, and will do what he pleases as loudly and jovially or aggressively as he so feels the situation calls for. Nakuru, on the other hand, while open and friendly, has shown on a number of occasions that the mask can be dropped in an instant to show a very different sort of person beneath. She is cunning and manipulative, using an open, friendly smile to get her into good graces with people and take her where she wishes to go, all without showing what her true feelings or motivations are.

Meanwhile, Yue and Spinel Sun are both quiet and reserved dark magic users and show as many variations in such as their counterparts. Yue keeps his true thoughts and feelings to himself, often saying one thing and yet doing another as proven with his declarations of never accepting Sakura to be his Mistress, and yet being completely devoted to her protection and happiness only a few chapters later. Even as Yukito, while he gives his polite smile to everyone, he avoids situations of being in the spot light and keeps his true thoughts and feelings bottled up inside, only showing the world the front of a polite wallflower. Spinel Sun, no matter how quiet, shows a stubborn streak that Yukito doesn't share. He refuses to acknowledge the nickname “Suppi” as being in any relation to himself, and quite openly states his thoughts and opinions on things in as few words as he can manage, and doesn't bend to Nakuru's whims anywhere near as readily as Yukito does.

So what does all of this actually have to say about Sorcery? Merely that every person born has a talent to be either offensive or defensive and that whichever they are will affect their outward behaviour. Furthermore, the source of their power, sun or moon, will also affect what sort of person they are and how they deal with the situations that they face. And as they become more in tuned to certain elements, their behaviour will mirror that element's aspects. This is because it takes a certain level of understanding of the forces that go into the elements in order to control them. Whether this understanding is innate or studied depends on the person, as some will naturally lean towards one element or another. Not that a person can not learn to harness the other elements—and for humans it is common to have some level of competence with each element—but rather that it takes a great deal of training to be able to bend your own natural perception of the world to fit a philosophy so different from your own in order to do so.

The Sorcerer's Tools

Sorcery uses a number of different mediums of different shapes, sizes, and styles. Here I will explain some of the most basic styles of mediums for easy reference and clarity. First off though, is the reason for using these tools. A Sorcerer's magic is pulled not from any item, but from the sorcerer themselves, and therefore is very taxing on the caster, in some instances even leading to death. The tools are used to focus and channel the magic into a more concise spell, enabling the caster to use their power more efficiently.

Magic circles are used by sorcerers in order to harness the usage of certain alignments or elements. Each sect of sorcery has its circle that they use in order to call on the energies of nature to aid in their casting. Though it is common to use a prominent circle, most sorcerers know at least fifty separate circle designs. Circles are best drawn on an active element, such as rock, sand, a tree, though they can also be drawn or carved into paper, fabric, personal possessions, etc. Circles are made up of symbols and runes which explain the magic's fundamental basics. Alignments, affiliations, aspects, attributes, and more are all revealed in the markings and placements of those markings.

The circle does not even have to be circular, merely a closed shape of any kind will do. This includes triangles, squares, pentagrams, and so forth. What is important is the unbroken chain of energy cycling through the circle like a current in an electrical wire. For an experienced sorcerer, they are capable of even creating their own unique circles in order to draw on the energies that they desire for their casting. By changing the placement and choice of runes or symbols, the caster can greatly effect magical output and effect of what the circle is used for.

Clow Reed was one such sorcerer, who went so far as to completely devise a new form of circle by combining Eastern and Western magic circles to create something more powerful, dangerous, and harder to control than anything either circle type could manage on it's own. It is due to this extreme difficulty to control hybridized magic circles that prevents them being made very often. The circle variations in existence at the moment all came from attempts to make previous hybridizations easier and safer to use; however, this fact is little known to the public and Clow Reed's hybrid circle has not yet been around long enough for many attempts at modification to have occurred.

Sakura's circle is a special case, it was a circle designed by Clow Reed, only activated when the spell kept inside the Moon Bell transformed the Sealing Staff into the new Star Staff, thus unlocking the new circle pattern activating the magic. Therefore, Sakura did not actually need to understand anything about the circles or the runes and kanji involved in drawing it. Clow Reed's main circle showed while using the Sealing Staff as that's the circle that the magic tools were engraved with, then when the engraving within the tool changed, so did the circle brought forth. She is merely activating a preexisting circle, though eventually in the future she will have the skill and ability to use her own magic to create the circle from nothingness.

Beyond just the circles, there are many other physical tools used in the channelling of magic. Though spells can be cast without them, these items are used to boost the spells power. In some instances, multiple items can be used to magnify the magic greatly. For Sakura, these items are namely her two staffs that she uses in the series, as well as the cards. Where Xiao Lang is concerned, he had his sword, his ofuda, and a third tool in his rashinban. He proved that the rashinban was used for more than just finding the cards, he also used it in his attempt to track Eriol through his coat, and when the Final Judgment was drawing near in the fifth volume, he pointed out that the rashinban was useless because there was too much magic interference around that it couldn't get a solid reading on any one thing.

Even the Guardians seem to have their own magic amplifiers, though not in the form of a staff or weapon like the children. They instead appear to use crystals, as each of them has gems on them in their character designs. And in the anime, Spinel Sun channelled Eriol's power through the staff resonating with the gem in his forehead. It’s not impractical to assume that each of the Guardians channel their magic through their masters, especially with the reference made in the final battle between the four Guardians about the "difference in the master's strength".

Means of Teaching

Wizardry appears to be taught by and large in established schools organized into classes. Each class appears to be taught by a master of a style of wizardry, such as charms or transfiguration. There are also apparently classes which combine magic types, such as Defence Against the Dark Arts. Then there are classes that require special in-born talent, like Divination, in order to succeed at. And further, there are classes which appear as if magic is merely a benefit rather than a requirement, such as Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and more.

However, while the majority of the classes seem to be geared towards this “magic is merely beneficial” approach, the curriculum is such that you would not be able to graduate from a wizard's school without taking the mandatory courses that do require magic. In this way, they prevent the likes of squibs or muggle siblings of muggle borns from attending their schools.

Wizarding students begin their training once they have reached puberty and continue for a seven year stretch. If a child by the age of eleven has not shown magical potential as of yet by casting wandless magic, or stealing their parent's wand to play with, then they are dubbed a squib and that is that. It is uncertain what becomes of children who's magic appears after the start of the school year in there eleventh year, they may be able to go into some sort of special studies program, or they may be forced to learn from their parents at home if they're to learn anything at all.

It is proven that some children with potentially high magic levels take a long time to cast their first magic as Neville Longbottom, who eventually becomes one of the better duellists in the school, stated in the first book that he nearly didn't meet the deadline of casting magic. If his family had not began trying to force magic out of him and thus prompting that first spell, what would have been the fate of Neville who played such a substantial roll in the fall of Lord Voldemort?

The wizarding population also does not have any universities or post-school education mentioned within the books. Indeed, if memory serves it is even openly stated somewhere that there are no universities. And yet is it verified on several accounts that somewhere nearing half the spells possible are never learned by your average witch or wizard. To this, there are a few possible explanations. First is that to learn those spells one has to take certain NEWT level classes. Now this is acceptable and reasonable for assuming this, yet at the same time it is highly doubtful that this would account for half the spells out there.

Another explanation is that the fresh-from-school workforce undertakes a period of apprenticeship from a master in the trade they wish to make a career out of. In this apprenticeship, the witch or wizard would learn job-related spells that have been specialized over centuries for the purpose of the job. However this brings up a problem of the apprentice only learning the spells that the master feels is important to pass on and so spells would become forgotten in time.

This actually leads to the third possibility in which only a certain number of spells are in circulation at any one time. In this case, older families who have been accumulating texts for decades or even centuries would have a much greater array of knowledge at their disposal than the newer families who have only been part of the wizarding world for a decade or two. Some of their personal libraries may contain spells which were otherwise lost, forbidden, or merely out of the circle of print.

The most likely answer to the question of “what are those other half of the spells?” is some combination of all the above. As the children get older and begin specializing more and more, they would learn spells of a certain field only. Out on the work force they then learn further choice spells taught during their apprenticeship, and then finally given enough time, spells become forgotten to all but the books they happen to be written in.

For Sorcerers, however, things appear to be quite different. By the age of ten, Xiao Lang had a wide array of many different types of spells at his disposal. Now admittedly he is quite powerful and is supposed to be someone great when he grows up, yet so was Draco Malfoy and he did not get special training prior to entering school. So from this I will take some liberties as the details are not well known.

Sorcery training likely begins as early as the caster is capable of conducting the spell work. As it is a more specialized field based on a person's natural alignment, it is likely not taught in large numbers. As working with the elements seems to require certain mentalities, it is likely that a large part of the early studies is focused more on how to think like the elements than how to cast the spells themselves. And in terms of shaping the thought proses, the earlier in life you begin the more successful you will be.

Once the how of thinking has been established, then the study of the required symbols can begin. This is likely very mathematically based and so would take an older mind to truly understand, yet younger children can be taught to copy a picture or feed magic into an item without necessarily understanding everything involved.

But having a master and apprentice system their whole lives would mean that the students would need to change masters when they desire to learn a new subject. This would lead to each individual likely changing masters several times over their lifetime, likely even well into adulthood. Each master would teach them a preferred set of runes, incantations, and circles, and each student would then take that which they were best at for their own magic casting. This phenomenon would lead to sects preferring certain circles, but as long as the original meaning was not lost, the forgotten circles and lesser-used circles could still be derived from the base and re-invented at any time they are required, unlike the wizarding magic which once the incantation and wand movement is lost, the spell is lost.

Danger and its Effect on Magic Potential and Output

In the world of Wizardry, magic without a wand is quite possible. Every magical child in the world casts wandless magic at some point in time or another in their life. The children who cast it more regularly and freely are often looked upon as being more powerful than those who can not. Harry Potter and Tom Riddle were two examples of children who used wandless magic in their youth. For the case of Harry Potter, there are five mentioned instances where the wandless magic was used.

The first instance of Harry using wandless magic was when his aunt cut his hair poorly. His dread of ridicule which tormented him all night, the shame and embarrassment, resulted in his hair growing back by the next morning. The next instance mentioned is when he shrunk an ugly old sweater down to hand-puppet size during a fight over whether or not he was going to wear it. The third mentioned instance was his apparating in order to avoid being beaten up by his cousin. The fourth was Harry vanishing the glass at the zoo when his cousin was being cruel once again. The last instance was during summer break in Harry's third year when he blew up Vernon's sister like a balloon because she was insulting Harry and his parents.

Now, Harry never made the connection between all of these events, but in each and every one of them Harry was either in a perceived state of danger or extremely angry. Sometimes even both. And in every one of these instances, something happened that resulted in him either getting out of the situation he didn't want to be in, or something happening to punish the person who he was angry at. Due to this, a pattern begins to arise that can be traced through the other two people within the books who mentioned pre-wand spellwork.

Harry never made the connection between all the things that were happening, but there is plenty of evidence that indicates that Tom Riddle did. It was said that in his youth, that whenever Tom grew cross with someone, nasty things would happen to them or their possessions. Such as one boy who's rabbit got hung from the rafters the day after fighting with Tom. It's not hard to believe with the nature of people that once he discovered he had this power and what caused it, that he began triggering it purposefully to feel a sense of power over those around him. He did something odd to some students that he coaxed into a seaside cave that they were too scared to ever speak of again.

The third person who spoke at any length on what pre-Hogwarts spells they cast was Neville Longbottom. Unlike the other two, he was not a natural spell caster from an early age, and his stories recount how his family members attempted to force magic out of him. All through his childhood, his relatives did dangerous things to him, from pushing him off a pier and nearly drowning him to hanging him out of upper story windows by his ankles. His first successful spellwork was actually to save himself when he was accidentally dropped during one of these attempts.

Now that the facts have been stated, lets examine what wandless magic really does. All the cases above are indications of magic happening as self-preservation. Either the ability to flee, hide, protect, or retaliate. The fact that Neville's family was attempting to force magic out of him by doing such things to him on a regular basis supports my theory. The problem is that the magic is not only unpredictable, but requires a state of fight or flight to induce.

Because the fight or flight mechanism is a natural proses found in all higher-level animals based on spikes in adrenaline, it can be assumed that any activity that causes an adrenaline rush above a certain level would also cause wandless magic to happen. Further evidence was brought up by Dumbledore who stated in the sixth book that states of depression can sap a wizard's magic from them. Depression is brought on by a chemical imbalance in the brain, in which case adrenaline production would likely be harder to maintain at the heights spellwork requires.

The problem then arises on what if someone capable of casting magic just never happens to reach that level of adrenaline rush prior to the September of their eleventh year? Also, would it be possible to induce the state falsely by adrenaline injections? These are things that can never be proven, however much my scientific mind ponders the fact.

With the understanding of the adrenaline affect, there are further complications to face, however. In a school of emotional teenagers, how is it possible that there aren't magical accidents running wild? In none of Harry's heated arguments against Draco Malfoy has he ever accidentally cast wandless magic, nor during any of his multiple fights for his life upon Hogwarts school grounds. It can't be a state of him beginning to study magic making wandless magic no longer useable, because it was in between Harry's second and third year that he blew up his aunt.

The only logical answer I can think of is that Hogwarts, among all of it's other wards and enchantments designed to protect the student body, has some sort of spell on it that stops the students from casting such an unpredictable, emotionally based thing as wandless magic. Yet even still, even with the wand, whenever Harry has faced his toughest trials, his magic became far more powerful than otherwise. How else would he have managed a Patronus that could take out all those Dementors, or for three first-years to win against a Mountain Troll?

However, sorcery—which also seems to require some form of necessity—seems to mandate a certain level of concentration and can become weaker if you let your fears and emotions run away with you. Eriol instructed Xiao Lang at one instance in the manga and several times within the anime that if he wanted to become more powerful, he'd have to calm down and concentrate. Likewise, Xiao Lang's first instructions to Sakura in many instances was to calm down and stop crying, that if she concentrated she'd find the solution and succeed.

Though concentration alone does not seem to be all that is needed, as often Sakura must face a moment in time in which the only way she can get through a situation is by pure determination. One explanation for this is that you require the determination in order to continue casting the magic, even when it is draining the body of it's energy. In order to gain that determination, often times the life of herself or of someone close to her was used as a catalyst for Sakura.

Whenever Sakura got into too much trouble, everyone--whether they had magic or not--seemed to always say "it's Sakura, so it'll be alright". And indeed, when she would say the line herself, her special "unbeatable spell" as it came to be known, it would give her the confidence in her self to keep going despite the dangers, and the spells would become more powerful than before. Now, that could just be because it cleared away her doubt and fears, allowing her to concentrate on her magic more completely, or it could have some other significance to the spell work that has yet to be determined.

So that is concentration to cast the complicated spellwork with a level head despite the situation going on around them, determination to continue casting regardless of the taxation upon themselves, and confidence to stand up to their fears and doubts and not become overwhelmed with the problem and thus unable to maintain concentration. That sated, it is obvious the conditions and mental state of the sorcerer while casting magic would be vastly different from those of wizards; however, in both cases the perceived danger is mandatory for pushing their power that little bit farther in order to cast the more powerful spells.

Emotions and their Effect on Wizardry

As mentioned above, Wizardry is based off of the fight-or-flight instinct. Without a wand, the caster must reach an emotional high, most often of fear or rage. It has been evidenced that some magic is more inclined to be cast on an emotional high then others. But as much as purpose of the magic goes, in several instances it's been proven that magic also requires specific emotions to cast effectively.

The Patronus, for example, is one of the most obvious spells requiring positive emotions. The very fact that one must find their happiest memory to harness is proof enough on this theory. Without the positive energy, the spell would fail to cause the effect required to protect the caster. The charm to banish Boggarts appears to be the same way; you must harness the feelings of joy and humour to chase away your fears.

While the Unforgivable Curses, it seems, require emotions of loathing and cruelty. Though the exact means in which they are used is uncertain, one can assume it is—like with the opposing positive emotions—used by focusing on an image or event in your past which causes the necessary seething you require.

It appears, for all sanity sake, that as much as Sorcery seems to be becoming in control of your emotions in order to become calm, Wizardry is becoming in control of your emotions to choose which extreme you wish to achieve. Very much opposing means of casting magic, though neither are completely beneficial or detrimental.

Secondary Talents

In both the world of sorcery and wizardry, there are some born with natural secondary magical abilities. While these abilities in wizards are all too rare, among sorcerers it appears as though secondary magical abilities are all too common. As it has been the repeated pattern above, we will begin once more with the wizards inheritable talents and then move on to the sorcerer’s afterwards.

I say that wizardry has inheritable traits because the evidence predominantly points to that conclusion. Brought up as a main plot point as early as the second book, yet foreshadowed even within the first, was the skill of parseltongue. Reputedly Salazar Slytherin's most famous ability, it is one shared regularly by all the Gaunt line who descended from him. Indeed, it went to the point that in all likelihood Voldemort's uncle could not speak even a word of English as he was shown in the books to not even attempt communication to the authorities in anything but.

The stigma shown within the British Isles towards parslemouths gives rise to the belief that it is likely that it is among the rarest of talents, and that those who can use it would likely keep it under wraps. However, just because this is the case within Great Briton, does not mean that elsewhere in the world parslemouths are treated so poorly or are so rare. It could have very easily have been a skill that started elsewhere in the world where it is common, and merely not inherited by many people within Europe.

The stigma states that parslemouths are evil persons dating back to the original inventor of the Basilisk who was a powerful dark wizard. It also most likely stems from the biblical stories of the snake in Genesis, as most of Europe have been Jewish/Christian for the last several hundred years. However, actually examining the facts would likely prove that this is merely population bias and that the likelihood of a parselmouth becoming a villain is no greater than that of any other person out there.

The other named skill is metamorphmagi, or the ability to change one's own appearance without the use of a wand or potion. This does not include transformation into other species or inanimate objects. The main practitioner of this skill is one Nymphadora Tonks, and while the skill seems to be hereditary as her son, Teddy Lupin, also had the skill, her mother, Andromida, nor any of her other relatives among the Blacks have any indication of having this skill.

That being said, it was either a recessive ability that Ted Tonks, Adromida Black, and Remus Lupin all were carriers for, or it was a dominant ability that evolved multiple times. Seeing as the first case is more likely, we shall say that the skill is probably pretty well distributed throughout the magical population in Great Briton due to three unrelated characters all being carriers of the gene.

Now, there are many ways that these magical traits could have made their way into the population, including being random mutation that lead to an enhancement in magic for certain individuals. While this is not wholly improbable, there are other possibilities as well, including one that the books themselves allude to on several occurrences. What I am referring to is the fact that many magical species such as giant, veela, and so forth, have demonstrated the ability to interbreed with humans and produce offspring that posses the magical traits of their non-human ancestors.

Now here I pose a theory on the origin of not only the extra traits that some magic users have proven themselves to possess, but an origin to all magic in humans to begin with. Picture, if you will, the state of the world pre-humanity, when the first homo sapiens were defining themselves as a species of their own. Genetics proves that there was likely extensive interbreeding between these early humans and other members of the homo genus, so why stop there?

Suppose occasionally that individuals of this early humanity bred with local magical beasts, thus resulting in offspring that had traits of their magical parent. With generation upon generation, these offspring breed among the non-magical humans, and come in contact with others of different ancestry. These different communities of humans-with-power would then blend into something that is neither one nor the other, eventually becoming the mishmash of magical abilities that humans are today.

But this process wouldn't just stop with the prehistoric humans, indeed in Harry's own circle of experience there are three such half breeds with inherited traits recent enough in their bloodline to recognize the source for what it is. However, if one assumes that given time the origin would be forgotten in face of the ability it produces, especially if it is highly recessive, then they could come to the point where the ability gains a name of it's own rather than just being a “half breed trait”.

So here we have a plausible solution for not only the wizard's traits but also magic in general. However, sorcerers are a little different. As stated by Eriol in the story, where sorcerers come from is uncertain, merely that they have been around long enough to traverse the globe and have by some means made themselves a part of magic. As a result, their magic tends to be less genetic and more spiritually based.

Looking at it, there seems to be two main branches of secondary talents that sorcerers can have: divination and spiritual sight. For exceptionally powerful individuals, it seems possible to use both talents at the same time, though many individuals seem to have neither. Unlike with the wizarding traits, the abilities of the sorcerers seem to be such that they would not be born with them, a certain level of power would be required before they become viable, yet they have a predisposition to one power or the other all the same.

This observation would bring to mind the lunar and solar aspects that sorcery is based off of, the combination of which in different percentiles basically dictate personality and ease in casting different types of magic. With this theory in mind, one merely needs to examine individual persons exhibiting these abilities to determine the likelihood of each trait being related to each celestial body.

Now, due to the small number of individuals shown to possess these abilities within the cannon Card Captor Sakura universe, I will be taking this theory largely from the greater CLAMP-verse which includes such titles as Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, xxxHolic, Legal Drug, and X1999. They will, of course, defer to CCS in any subject that contradicts as this is a story built out of that world, but as fellow series made by the same artistic group who are known for convolutedly crossing over their own time lines, I feel it safe enough to take from others to fill in the blanks that Sakura's universe simply does not answer satisfactorily.

That being said, let us begin with the power of divination, or foresight. Seers of various types and powers have existed in a variety of CLAMP titles, and for ease of explanation I feel it best to begin with persons of other titles and then apply them to Card Captor Sakura cannon for comparable continuity. The list of cross-series seers I wish to draw attention to here are Ichihara Yuuko (Tsubasa and xxxHolic), Fei Wong Reed, and Tomoyo from Japan Country (Tsubasa), Hinoto, Kanoe, and Kuzuki Kakyou (X1999), and Kakei (Legal Drug).

Starting with the closest relation to our main title, Ichihara Yuuko is an old colleague of Clow Reed's and nearly as powerful. Her entire business functions around her ability to foresee what her customers need to gain their heart's desires and what they must give in return to make the payment sufficient. As the Witch of Dimensions, her official ceremonial robes are adorned with multiple references to the moon, indicating a highly strong probability that she has a lunar alignment. However, this fact alone is not enough to guarantee proof as she also has a well developed ability to see and interact with the spiritual realm.

Following Yuuko, one may examine the cameo appearance of the seer Tomoyo-hime of Japan Country. Much like Yuuko, Tomoyo-hime is adorned by a crescent moon theme, however unlike Yuuko, Tomoyo-hime shows no inclination for possessing an ability to see spirits. Hinoto and Kanoe, famed seer sisters in the X1999 series, are similarly associated with the moon, though in a more indirect fashion. Both sisters are highly associated with the night, a time when the moon is out and the sun is gone, and both have official artwork showing them with the moon hanging in the background.

Furthermore, Hinoto is strongly associated with water, which is known to be an element under the power of Yue. Likewise, Kuzuki Kakyou is strongly associated with the ocean and seagulls in flight, his dreamscape taking place in such a location. In Card Captor Sakura, The Fly is a card under Windy, which in turn is also a card under Yue. Furthermore, all of these characters, as well as Kakei the seer from the Legal Drug series, have personalities that when examined would put them under the moon aspect as detailed in the Alignments and Elements section above.

The only character that really contradicts this over-encompassing theme would be Fei Wong Reed. His personality is stubborn and unyielding, determined to a level that better identifies with the solar element earth than any of the more fluid elements of the moon. Not that those with a lunar aspect can not be stubborn or determined, as each human is made up of percentages of sun and moon elements to form unique wholes. However, that being said, the stronger percentage would make Fei Wong's aspect appear to be sun. Yet like Yuuko, he appears powerful enough in both aspects that he has the ability to use foresight and spiritual sense both.

So given the general CLAMP-verse theme, let us now examine how it relates to the cannon characters of Card Captor Sakura. The series itself presents three prominent seers, Eriol, Kaho, and Sakura herself. When Sakura began budding her new ability shortly into her adventures, Kero made note that the ability to view visions was a rare gift that only powerful sorcerers had. This gives a possible hint to why Syaoran wouldn't have the gift, despite the fact that he seems to be a lunar aspect as well. He is never expressed as being able to see ghosts or other spirits, only a general sixth sense to feel out presences that he and Kero both seem to think is a general skill that all magic users should be capable of doing.

So out of the three powerful enough to have the gift, the question that must then be asked is how well do each follow the lunar aspect theme. Eriol Hiiragizawa, the half reincarnation of Clow Reed, inherited his magic and therefore his aspects, which were cannonly known to be a perfect balance of sun and moon, thus making him so exceptionally powerful. As such, Eriol can not be defined as one category or the other and has proven to have abilities that land him in both fields of secondary magical talents.

Sakura, likewise, has an odd aspect, being that she draws her power from her own personal star and thus is neither sun nor moon. Yet if we step back on her and look not at the predominant aspect but rather the elements that she is most comfortable using, one can observe that her favoured magic is all the likes of Windy, Fly, and Jump, all of whom are under Yue, thus lunar magic. As such, it can be assumed that her celestial stacking is star-moon-sun, and as moon is still higher than sun, the first magic she began being able to do was divination.

And that leaves Kaho, a woman surrounded by the imagery of the moon to the point that Kero even mistook her for Yue's sealed form. Other connections include her apparent affinity to water, and that her magical tool was none other than the Moon Bell which Clow Reed embedded with lunar energy to enable Sakura to beat Yue with a lunar-based card. Even Kaho's last name, though the kanji are wrong, sounds like it would mean “water energy”. Yet in Kaho's introduction to Touya, she found him watching a spirit under a tree and spoke to him about it.

Now, if this was a show of Kaho's strength or if she simply assumed is unclear. Kaho is a seer, she taught Sakura water skrying and had many on-the-spot premonitions. She could have easily foreseen in some form the existence of Touya, given his power and importance intertwining with all that Kaho's destiny depended on. If that was the case, she could have simply foreseen that Touya had the gift he did and when coming upon him staring off into what seemed like space, sensed out that there was a presence there and figured he was looking at it.

Or perhaps as a miko, she had been called upon to do some sort of ceremony for the dead, or for a local spirit, or whatever the presence was, and had been made to skry on it previously. In either case she would have gained knowledge of the entity without the ability to see anything present and would have merely noted that Touya was capable of seeing it. On the other hand, it could have been indication of her vast abilities placing her as one of only three others who had both skills. If that were the case, it would express her level of power far higher than most fans seem to assume, as the others who are known to have such a skill include Clow Reed, Eriol, Yuuko, and Fei Wong.

Now that I have thoroughly argued the point of divination being a lunar-based ability, allow me to now call upon CLAMP's infamous rule of duality and say that if divination is indeed an advanced lunar magic, then solar magic would need an equally advanced skill to compliment it. That being said, the other skill shown time and again throughout the series is the ability to see ghosts and other typically invisible things. Characters that I will be addressing here expressed to have this skill and aren't any of the mixtures already addressed above are Watanuki, and Kohane (xxxHolic), as well as the cannon Card Captor Sakura characters.

While X/Tokyo Babylon do involve senses that enable characters to interact with the spiritual realm, allowing them not only to see but also create spiritual beings, it seems to be a universal trait of people with powers in that universe. Every one of the characters with power, be them Dragon of Heaven or Earth, have shown themselves capable of bearing witness to entities such as Nekoi Yuzuriha's inugami, Inuki. As such, in that world it could be assumed that the ability is universal to those with spiritual powers regardless of what celestial aspects they attribute themselves to and therefore can be disregarded from the speculations.

The only two others who are prominently noted for the gift that aren't members of our cannon are Watanuki and Kohane. Kohane's gaining of the ability came from her being infused with one of Sakura-hime's scattered feathers. The presence of this feather greatly boosted the little girl's magical ability to the point that a power manifested. While initially speaking, Kohane doesn't seem like the typical image that one would associate with the bright power of the sun, however on a closer inspection she appears to merely be a Dark type of character, similar to Spinel Sun, rather than a Light type.

This observation stemmed from the fact that while Kohane did go along with her mother's desires to an extent, she was only a child and once she became old enough to stand on her own, she did so. Kohane has a very stubborn streak in her, she chooses her path and is unrelenting in the pursuit, despite everything that other people may do or say to her. Like with Fei Wong Reed, this is not the behaviour that a strong lunar elementalist would exhibit. While determination is mandatory for most magics, going to the extent that Kohane went to without yielding or changing tactics or even loosing who they are at their core shows a heavy level of the bull-headed attitude that solar types are defined by.

That being said, Watanuki is something of a strange case. According to story cannon, he is not a proper human, being a mere shadow of Li Tsubasa. Tsubasa's clone was strongly affiliated with fire, and by extent so too was Tsubasa. Fire is, of course, a sun element, and one that also suits Watanuki. Watanuki is impulsive and intense, he wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn't think through the consequences of an action before he takes it. He is stubborn about details far past the point in time where they become obsolete and is unwavering in his conviction long past the point in time where it becomes clear that his continued arguments have become invalidated. Just look at his insistent crush on Himawari even after he found out that her very presence put his life in danger, or his determination to declare Domeki his enemy well past the point where other people would consider them friends. He follows his emotions rather than his head, but is too stubborn to acknowledge when his emotions change against his will. These are very sun-like traits, indeed.

Now as far as Card Captor Sakura goes, the only two characters who solely have spiritual sight are Touya and his mother. While not much is known about Nadeshiko, what is known is that she was rather impulsive, often acting before putting any real thought into her actions, and admittedly a bit of a klutz, but that's more or less irrelevant. The only thing to note about it is that she didn't seem to be the sort of person to learn from her mistakes, because despite her accident-prone nature, she never slowed down or really learned to think things through enough to correct the mistakes.

She also seemed to have a strong sense of determination, or at the very least was highly loyal, and prefered to make up her own mind. After all, she quit a family who obviously loved her dearly for the man she loved, and still sent them her Valentines chocolates despite her choosing to be disinherited. And like mother like son, Touya is also the fiercely independent yet loyal type. However, unlike his mother, Touya seems to be the sort to act as the steadfast protector, trying to take care of spirits despite his own welfare and chasing after his sister despite having given up his magic. Also unlike his mother, Touya seems to be more of a Dark Sun rather than her Light type.

On one final note before I leave off this section, I'd like to address the issue of Fujitaka, who gained a spiritual awareness with the gaining of half of Clow Reed's magic. I do believe that while this was the ability we were shown he possessed, that much like Clow Reed's other reincarnation, this will not be the only ability he will end up with. Indeed, he has always, even before gaining magic, had a seemingly uncanny insight on events, being at the right place at the right time or just knowing when things go wrong in regards to his children.

While his children and himself have always just taken these things as being result of him “just being dad”, indicating how well he knows his children and how good a father he is, it could also be taken as residuals of Clow Reed's absolute foresight. While nowhere near as powerful as Clow Reed's, or even Eriol's, due to his not having had magic to boost it's power, if my theory of Clow Reed breaking taboo is correct, it makes sense that Fujitaka would not be exempt of the punishment either. As a result, he is just uncannily good at guessing the right answer or preempting people, and his children who grew up knowing no other type of father would not ever think to question the how or why of the matter.

This wouldn't be the only strange thing about him that in hindsight would likely link him to Clow, either. His exquisite cooking ability seems to be a common trait between those in close relation to Clow, as well as his looks and general mannerisms. But if that is the case, then why was the first magic he was shown to possess his ability to see Nadeshiko? Because she was what he desired most.

More on the Secondary Talents of Sorcerers and the Existence of the Unseen (*New* 26/07/2014)

Between the Harry Potter and CLAMP universes there seems to be one glaring discrepancy, namely the existence of spiritual beings. In the universe that Harry Potter takes place in, only witches and wizards are capable of choosing where they go after they die and are incapable of returning after they move on. There are no such things as gods, or spirits, or demons, or angels within the Harry Potter world, possibly to avoid the controversy over religious practices if such ideas were brought up.

However, CLAMP—including Card Captor Sakura—blatantly contradicts these statements and many of the unstated facts. While the only ghost or spirit that is actually interacted with in Card Captor Sakura was Sakura's dead mother, Nadeshiko, Touya stated that his mother had stopped appearing while he was in middle school (so at least 3 years before the start of the series). However, at the end of the first volume of the Card Captor Sakura manga, Nadeshiko reappears briefly with angel wings attached and says a line that indicates she's been somehow able to watch over the family in a way Touya couldn't sense. And this was not the only time she made a reappearance as during the White Day special and near the end of the manga series both she was shown to have come back for at least a visit to check up on her loved ones.

Further, when Touya came across the Mirror card the first time, he mistook her for a ghost and attempted to help her move on. He would not have done this if that wasn't something he had managed in the past, also the forest that Mirror took Touya to was said to be full of spirits meaning either Japan is riddled with a ridiculous amount of dead mages unwilling to move on by themselves, or the statement in Harry Potter about only mages having the ability to become spirits would have to be disregarded. Touya also stated that when they were younger, he would tell Sakura about nearby ghosts and spirits “everyday”. While some of these cases may be lies from a teasing older brother, it is likely that many of the cases were real. He also spoke of “evil” spirits that would cause Sakura to cry about if he told her they were there or not, and yet the Harry Potter books seem to make it out that ghosts are neither good nor evil, merely a continuation of the witch or wizard that made it.

Many of CLAMP's other series also further support this view that normal people can become ghosts and that there is far more than the spirits of dead humans—or even dead magical humans—wandering the world in a way that normal people can't see. Most prominent of these series being xxxHolic, which focuses on the adventures of a boy who is a convoluted descended from Clow Reed as he struggles to deal with his spiritual sight. As such, much of the basis for what constitutes as a sixth sense in this story will be taken off of the abilities described in xxxHolic to fill in the holes left unexplained in Card Captor Sakura.

Yet seeing as the views of what is and is not possible for after-death experiences is so drastically different between Harry Potter and CLAMP based universes, an explanation to clear up these discrepancies is needed. For this, I wish you to turn your attention to the section above in which I discuss the secondary talents of Sun and Moon aligned sorcerers. The arguments detailed there place spiritual sight as a solar talent exhibited by people of strong magical ability. I also wish to draw your attention to the statement that sorcerers are different than wizards in that they are a part of magic rather than merely a conductor of it as wizards are. This being said, sorcerers behave more like magical beasts as far as their powers are concerned than they do like humans.

Now, with these things in mind, please focus on a statement that Kero made in the manga in regards to Yue and why Yukito ate so much. He said that because Yue was moon magic, he did not create his own magic but instead had to absorb and convert it from an outside source. The fact that Kero makes this distinction indicates that his own sun-based magic does not follow those same rules, further supported by the fact that Sakura insists on several occasions that Kero does not actually need to eat. Now seeing as humans all have both sun and moon magic in them to different percentages makes sorcerers a slightly different story, but one can assume the general rule still holds.

Solar magic acts as it's own generator, as opposed to lunar magic which acts as a sink. If this statement is considered true, then for the health and safety of the sorcerer producing all that energy, there must be an outlet for their magic or else they would eventually gain too much energy and explode. A similar example of energy breaking out was shown in Harry Potter via the case of Dumbledore's little sister Ariana, who after a traumatic experience attempted to seal all her magic within herself until she would loose control of it. The easiest way that one could imagine to expel the excess magical energy would be that of a continual radiation of it like how the body expends heat, or like the drain within a bathtub.

Now, imagine if you will that with enough power being expelled, the waves of magic would become something like how sound waves become echolocation, or light waves become visible objects. The waves would be let off of the sorcerer, and be reflected by colliding with the aura extruded by the spiritual being. To someone who has strong solar magic, this extra energy would be a bad thing and would not be absorbed by them, leaving them instead to perceive the existence of said invisible object.

So then, if that is the scientific explanation for the secondary talent of sun aligned sorcerers, there must be an explanation regarding the secondary talent of lunar magic as well. So, let us start off by looking back and examining the statement Kero made once more regarding the nature of Yue's lunar magic. He said that moon magic needed to be replenished from an outside source, absorbing and reflecting the magic rather than creating it. Also, please refer above to where I talk about the importance of intent and emotion in casting of spells. This idea indicates that something of those emotions would be projected when casting those types of spells.

Now allow me a moment to introduce an otherwise unrelated source that assisted in the formation of this theory. In the video game Xenoblade released by Monolith Soft for the Wii, the main character has the ability to see the future with the aid of a special magical sword, the Monado. The point that I'd like to pull attention to is the explanation that was given as to why these abilities exist. According to the game, the sword did not give the wielder the ability to truly see the future, but instead used the energy of the life essence found in all things to predict the most likely outcome to events and expressed those to the Seer instead.

Now, for a sorcerer who has a high percentage of lunar magic, they would be absorbing far more of their magic than they are producing for themselves. If we take the concept that everything in existence lets off some minor residual magic and the idea that Seers only See a prediction of the most likely outcome, one can start to put together how this talent works. The more powerful the Seer, the more they would have to absorb, giving them a clearer picture of the future, and thus letting them predict further ahead than weaker Seers. Then adding in the concepts of the different ways destiny or fate are put together, a very powerful Seer, such as Clow Reed, would be able to control the future by laying all the pieces in place far enough in advance that only one outcome would be made probable.

Also, the inability of a Seer to view the future of one more powerful than themselves would pertain to not having enough capacity to absorb “magic intent” from the person to be able to accurately predict what they would do. And the taboo about Seeing one's own future would be basically opening the pathways within one's self to absorb their own “magic intent”. If these pathways were unable to be closed off again afterwords, it would lead to a continual in-feed of personal future that nothing save death could stop.

So, one last thing to touch on in regards to the Harry Potter world: if the above concepts are true, then why would everybody with magic be able to see the ghosts of witches and wizards? Well, for starters I'd like to point out that it is unlikely that a non-magic user would bother going to haunt a magical location such as Hogwarts. Also, as CLAMP indicates, beings with magical existences extrude more of a presence than those without it. Thirdly, note that the only places where witches or wizards have ever been noted of seeing things that normal people can't are in historical magical locations. In other words, places where magic has been in use for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Assuming magic leaves a residue behind, some sort of latent overlay of excess energy, over time these repeated spells would form a matrix of energy in which the spirits haunting those places would become noticeable to anyone powerful enough to sense them. Witches and wizards, who are merely conductors of the magical energy in the universe around them do not store a large enough quantity of magic within themselves to function as a source like solar-based sorcerers do, but in a magical location where the environment is acting as the source they would still have the potential to pick up on the presences just as lunar-based sorcerers would.

Gauging Power  (*New* 15/11/2014)

Now, this is something that I have discussed a number of times with various people but never actually written a section on for the public. The issue that is being addressed is the apparent power imbalance between the sorcerers and the wizards. First, before going any further I'd like to draw attention to one prominent detail: wizards do not store magic within their bodies. They act as conductors, using the magic naturally in the environment and channelling it to the task they desire.

They gauge the strength of a wizard by averaging the values of how much and how fast any particular individual can gather the magic. However, because their bodies are not made to hold large amounts of magical energy, wands were invented to gather the spell's magic within and ease the stress on the caster. Due to the fact that they themselves do not store their own magical energy, not only are they not in anywhere near the danger of exhausting their magical reserves, but they are also not granted the extraordinarily long life times that sorcerers of equivalent power are benefit to.

So, wizards who only have a few decades longer lifespans than muggles do will grow old and die even as the strongest wizard to have ever existed. Currently, that title is held by none other than Merlin, a father of modern wizardry who even after so many centuries since his parting has remained a name to be praised and respected. The four founders of Hogwarts were similarly exceptionally powerful wizards and witches, though not up to Merlin's standards, were rather close to the power of Morgana le Fay. Dumbledore, Grindlewald, Voldemort, McGonagall, Snape, the Marauders (minus Peter), and Harry are all further noteworthy names of modern wizardry. Dumbledore is even reported to be the strongest wizard  of his age . 

So then why is it that sorcery seems so much more powerful? Well, for starters CLAMP loves making characters that are so absurdly over-the-top powerful, beautiful, and otherwise perfect that they seem to Mary-Sue the universe. But putting that aside, we can also look at some of the things that were actually mentioned. Let us start with the title of “Most Powerful Ever”, which is held in wizarding terms by the long-diseased Merlin. In the CLAMP-verse, it is universally accepted that that title was long in the possession of one Clow Reed.

The difference here between wizardry and sorcery is that for the sorcerers, their strongest ever stuck around for around a millennium before deciding on his own to die and pass the torch to his reincarnation, Eriol, who held the title unknown to the world until the moment his magic was split in half. Now on that regard, CLAMP has provided it's readers with the “one who will surpass” their strongest ever: Kinomoto Sakura. However, Sakura is still only an eleven year old girl and is far from in the full breath of her future powers. She is very powerful at the moment, yes, but her power is currently growing and she has not yet reached the true crest that she one day will in the future.

That being said, Yuuko from xxxHOLiC has stated that Fei Wong Reed was the second most powerful sorcerer in history after Clow Reed himself. Yuuko has been noted on several accounts of being spectacularly powerful, Syaoran noted that Mizuki Kaho was worryingly powerful, and Sakura during the first movie made note that Yelan was exceptionally powerful. That Syaoran was sent alone at age ten to capture the Clow Cards despite having other such powerful people in the family gives some indication of how strong he is, and one can assume therefore that just like him, Yelan's other children must also be exceptional. Touya's magic as well, prior to him giving it up, was enough to be able to save Yue's life when he was fading away. Also Nadeshiko, mother of Sakura and Touya, was noted as being powerful enough to see spirits as regularly as Touya himself did.

So, now that we have some names, it's time to start gauging them and why. In my humble opinion, Merlin and Clow Reed were about the same standing in magical power, with perhaps Clow Reed becoming a little more powerful in the later reaches of his life. Morgana was said to have been something of a rival to Merlin, despite being much younger than him, so one can therefore assume she was about on par with Fei Wong's power. Now we come to the point of speculation.

Yuuko herself acknowledged that she was not as powerful as Fei Wong, though she is strong enough to have cast several spells to send people to other worlds (a power that even other extremely powerful sorcerers are noted as only being able to do once in their life) and create magical beings, though admittedly with the aid of Clow Reed. Yelan, for her part, was shown to have ripped a hole in a barrier Clow Reed created to stop a very powerful sorceress--that even he felt threatened enough by to imprison--from ever escaping again, even when Sakura's own attempts to break the barrier all just bounced off. And yes, Sakura had not even participated in the Final Judgement at that time, but the fact that the barrier was created by Clow Reed to stand up to any assault the imprisoned sorceress tried to use against it and not even her soul after death was able to free itself still says something about what kind of power Yelan possessed.

So, while I personally consider Yuuko to be more powerful than Yelan, I do not think that Yelan is so very much weaker as to make her someone that Yuuko would be able to deal with easily. I consider the main difference in their power to stem rather from the styles they were trained in, and from the fact that I consider Yuuko's powers to be moon-based while Yelan's to be sun-based. Then, weaker but still quite powerful in their own rights, the Hogwarts founders in no drastically distinct order that matters as far as this story is concerned.

The next step down on our gauge is that of Eriol and Fujitaka, tied at this place after Clow Reed's magic was split in half between them. Syaoran's older sisters are also right around this level, though definitely weaker than Eriol and Fujitaka. It is likely that the elder two siblings are more powerful than the twins simply due to the level of training they have undergone.

From there, a further step down gives us Kaho, powerful in her own right yet no where near the strongest to ever exist. I also place Dumbledore somewhere around this level, though where exactly he fits among the half-Clow Reed and Kaho's standings is still being debated. Rather close to this power level is also Touya, though due to him having never received any proper formal training, it's hard to determine if he is more or less powerful than Kaho.

I do think, however, that Nadeshiko was likely less powerful than Touya. She was likely around the sort of strength that Voldemort has, or perhaps even as weak as McGonagall's level. Grindlewald was also likely about the same level of magical power that McGonagall was, though maybe a little stronger. Basically, the two of them are in the class that is still considered powerful, but is a power that is not so very uncommon that you don't see a few every century, while Voldemort and everyone above him in power are more along the lines of powers that stand out above and beyond what could be considered “normal”.

Sirius and James are likely the next people on the list, with Remus and Snape being not very far behind. Harry, also, will be about their level in power once he fully comes into his own. All of them “strong”, but still well within the average perimeters, not making any one individual stand out above the rest, and would have likely all lived rather normal wizarding lives exempt from the history books if it were not for Harry's dealings with Voldemort.

Now do keep in mind that there are always situational dealings where luck, fate, and training dictate an individual to be more or less successful in any given instance. However, I feel relatively confident that despite this one can still agree to the rough placement on this scale of all the individuals listed. Further, if one were to examine the sorcerers on this list they would find a few key points to pay attention to: one, power is hereditary; and two, if it weren't for the extreme longevity granted by the sorcerers storing their magic within their own bodies, there would not be so many extreme powers co-existing at any one point in history.

So then one might ask, “But wait, where are Sakura and Syaoran in this list?!” Well, the answer to that is quite simple, they are still children who's magical power is increasing throughout their story. At the very start of Card Captor Sakura, at the point in time in which Sakura fist opened the Book of Clow and began her adventures, it can be assumed that her magic power was about the same as Dumbledore's and her brother's. However, it can also be stated that she often denied and shied away from her power, so the vast majority of it was latent and she was completely untrained. This is a classic example of one who has  power , but not  skill . 

Syaoran, on the other hand, at this point in time was very well trained, but was only somewhere between Voldemort and McGonagall in strength. Now, don't get me wrong, that is still an exceptional level of power for a 10-year-old to wield, and seeing as he actually has the skill to know how to use his power, that places him as being over-all better than Sakura at this point in time.

Now, from this point on, through their adventures the children gain in both power and skill, Sakura more so than Syaoran, until the time of the Final Judgement. At this point in time, Sakura's raw power is already higher than Kaho's but still a good deal weaker than Eriol's at half-strength, similar to how Syaoran's sisters are. This is why she had so much trouble against Eriol early on and was exhausting herself so often in changing the cards. Yet even still, she lacks any formal training, and gets through her fights more by luck and intuition than any actual skill. Syaoran, on the other hand, has only made it as far as Voldemort, or perhaps a little past him in power.

Over Eriol's series of tests, Sakura is being pushed to her limits repeatedly, which increases the speed of her growth, having her overcome the strength of Clow Reed at half power by the end of the manga series. Again, she has still not undergone training, only learning on a need-to-know basis as problems arise. As such, if they fought seriously, Eriol would still be able to take her out despite her being more powerful than him. Syaoran, for his part, was still in that gap between Nadeshiko and Voldemort's level of power, and the sort of power that Dumbledore, Kaho, Touya, and pre-CCS!Sakura had. Though while he is in that gap, he is continuing to inch ever closer to their power level, and is still exceptionally impressive amount of strength for an 11-year-old to wield.

As for the time between Eriol's magic being cut in the end of May, 1995, and the start of this story in August of the same year, both children have undergone their own training regiments. For Sakura it has been more a catching up with her training than a further advancement of power, though she has increased in that somewhat as well. For Syaoran, however, it was a far harsher regiment that succeeded in pushing his power that last little step into the power range of Dumbledore and Kaho.

The Power of Desire

In the CLAMP-verse, it is apparent and often even stated that the power of wishes and desires shape the world. The strongest wish has the greatest effect. This theme has shown up in everything from Magic Knight Rayearth, X1999, Clover, and Wish, until the more recent titles like xxxHolic, Tsubasa, Kobato and from what can be seen so far, Gate 7. Within the Card Captor Sakura world, up until recently the most powerful force was that of Clow Reed. As shown in Magic Knights Rayearth, the one with the greatest magic potential also is the one who's wish is heard the loudest.

Taking this into account, for the last several hundred years Clow Reed was the force that lead the world with his strong desires. While other people's desires still shaped the universe as well, Clow's immense power and his ability to foresee the future in so much more depth and so much further ahead than anyone else would basically enable him to manipulate the course of history to fit his benefits and desires. This being said, it's clear how many would believe that the future is set in stone and can not be avoided.

But thirty years prior to the start of the story, Clow Reed died, splitting his soul into two other beings, thus passing the torch of “strongest” off to Eriol. Now, while Eriol generally followed Clow's plan, it is clear by the ending of Card Captor Sakura that not everything Clow desired came to pass, meaning that somewhere in there things had been changed. What was that thing? And what will it lead to? These are some of the questions this story strives to examine.

**Guardians Existence**

Purpose in the Sorcerer's World

It is without question at this point that Sorcery and Wizardry are two very different magic styles. Sorcery requires, as discussed higher up, absolute concentration. In this state, Sorcerers are vulnerable, too focused on their spell work to be able to defend from an attack. It has also been brushed upon the idea that stronger magic needs stronger concentration, and a longer time to gather energy to cast said spells. This leaves the caster at quite a disadvantage when it comes to casting Sorcery in any form of combat. In such a state, they could easily be taken out by a physical blow, or by a slightly faster spell. And this is why Guardians were created.

Sometimes in history and varying religions they have been referred to as 'familiars', Guardians exist to defend their masters in their times of vulnerability, and to tend to them while they recuperate from a particularly complicated bit of spell work. It is impractical to assume that magic users could support a Guardian who is at full power all the time, especially when they are drained for power themselves, and so Guardians exist in two forms: their true form and their sealed form. Their sealed form is often small, having very little magical output, and therefore requiring very little magic from their masters.

Since the power it requires to sustain a Guardian is great, few sorcerers have the power to do so on their own. But without a power source, Guardians would not be able to continue living, and so the immense magic put into them would be a waste. For that reason, Guardians have been given a special magic to allow them to bond with items that contain great power, such as the Sword of the Elements that Syaoran wields, or Kaho's Moon Bells, or several other special tools and items handed down within the magical families. Connecting oneself to the items like this does admittedly drain the magic power of the tool much faster than what would otherwise take place, but a bit of fancy spell work once a decade by a group of Sorcerers is a far better means to sustaining a Guardian than a continual drain of a single sorcerer's power, that would leave them exhausted and unable to do anything else with their magic.

Cultural Reactions and Relations to Guardians

By modern day, as rare as Guardians are, they are a rather well known concept, often owned by the older families and clans.  To have a Guardian is a thing of prestige, an honour bestowed in ancient times that can still play a major and active role in the lives of the young sorcerers of today. Most of the Guardians appear in charts telling the name of the Guardian, the item it's connected to, and the family that owns the item. The Guardians are kept by the heads of each family line, often only one Guardian per family, though it is up to the whole family to ensure the Guardian does not disappear from starvation, just as it is up to the Guardian to protect everyone in the family they are bound to.

Since most Guardians have lived through several masters, they often build interrelationships among themselves with other Guardians from near-by sorcerer families. Often at large magical get-togethers they can be found interacting on the sidelines with their own types, sharing family histories from the last time they met the particular Guardian that they are speaking with. A similar aspect of their duties, in the homes of their masters they are expected to work to some extent as a history teacher, re-telling the children the family’s greatest achievements and sharing wisdom from previous generations.

Between the actual master and Guardian, however, there is something beyond just the basic living together. To ensure the loyalty of Guardians to their masters, the master was enabled the ability to control their Guardian with spells that only the ones the Guardian is bound to can cast. But for the Guardian to always know the state of distress for their masters, and therefore protect them from danger, Guardians will create a special spiritual bond to their masters. Guardians can tell the ups and downs and all the variations of their master’s moods, they can hear their master say their name, wherever they are in correspondence, and often due to the bond, a Guardian will love their master, just because it is their master.

Guardians are traditionally formed in the shape of animals. They tend to be large enough to support a master's weight in their true forms, and small enough to fit in their master's hand in their sealed forms. As such, they tend to gain some minor attention in either guise. In true forms, they are impressive, massive, strangely mythological beasts of varying colour and design. In their sealed form, they tend to be miniature, and often simpler versions of themselves. Their unusual looks and ability to speak tends to draw attention to them, so in most cases of travel, they tend to stay hidden.

As they are shaped like animals, must do whatever their master commands, and are handed down much like heirlooms, as much as the sorcerers may love the Guardians, they are looked at as possessions rather then comrades. Like a favourite toy or a beloved pet, they lack no amount of affection, but are not given equality or looked at to have any real opinion of their own. They are a fancy trinket that will give their life for their owner; they are slaves and possessions, no matter how well they are loved.

Changing Hands: Gifts and Inheritance

As started already, Guardians have in history, outlived their masters time and again. This would tend to cause a problem, if it were not for the fact that Guardians are handed down the family line. Due to the situation, seeing as the previous master must die before the next one can be claimed, it often happens that it is not the child, or even the grandchild of the previous master that receives the Guardians next, but rather a great-grandchild. Though as always there are exceptions to this, it is merely the way that history has tended to go.

But there have also been cases in history where a great sorcerer will not have children of their own. In such instances, though not as common as the previous scenario, the master will choose a favourite student to entrust the Guardians with until someone new is chosen for their master. And on rare occasions, though it is looked at by the mass of the sorcery's society as highly rude, a master who has born children may still choose to hand down their guardians to a pupil instead. This course of action tends to bare the feeling of "none of my family are important enough to me" mixed with "my family is not worthy of this honour". Such things are so generally frowned upon that the student often feels obligated to marry into the family and return the Guardians that way.

The reason in which Guardians are viewed this way comes from ancient times, during the birth of the Guardian species. In ancient times, due to the strain of magic that was required to create Guardians, it became a customary sign of debt to a fellow sorcerer's family to bestow a Guardian when a sorcerer died in the saving of another sorcerer's life. It took several centuries, but eventually every one of the old families had a Guardian of their own.

In the few thousand years that followed, the magic to make Guardians was lost, though the meaning behind them remained due to the Guardian's outstanding memories. The families grew larger, split, and grew larger once again in an endless cycle that lead to the Guardians being handed into specific families only. Also over the centuries, some of the Guardians have died from starvation or attack. By present day, not only are Guardians unable to be replenished, the families that have them are select and few. Out of all the sorcerers out there, there are only one to two hundred Guardians to go around.

Though Clow Reed created his own Guardians, they were special to his own personal needs, and are not commonly placed in the selection of the list of normal Guardians. Instead, they have been given special recognition, along with his cards and several other things, as another of his wondrous inventions and creations. Jiao Yang and Chandra, however, were given to the Li Clan, and more specifically to Syaoran, by “Clow Reed” in this formal ceremony from ancient times. They are the classical variety Guardian that the rest of the world has, and therefore are as controllable and as non-taxing as your run-of-the-mill Guardian who has been around for the last several millennia.

The Special Creations

As can be expected, wherever Clow Reed's name is concerned, nothing is of the ordinary. It was during his time after he had abandoned both the Li Clan and the Reed Clan that he wondered the world, disgusted with humans that fate allowed him to stumble upon the ancient stone ruins describing the spells required to create Guardians. So, lonely and bitter to the world around him, Clow set about making his own friends. But, never one to follow directions, and far too cocky with his own ability, Clow decided he was going to change the spell. The first few attempts were powerful, yes, but very not Guardians. Some of these spells were later adapted into what would eventually be the creation of the Clow Cards. But finally, after several years of work and study, he succeeded in the birth of his own type of Guardians.

Some of the most notable changes that he made include the fact that there were two, twins who opposed and complimented each other. Another was that instead of making them from pure magic and then bonding them to an item, he created them from an item: an old magical journal of his that no matter how much one wrote in it, it would always have more pages that were blank. Also, the fact that he created the very first humanoid Guardian, though still as sexless as any other, gave more of a look at his views towards the human population around him. But what had to be the most notable thing about his new creations was that neither of them took on sealed forms. Indeed, the fact that he supported two unique Guardians in continual true form was what started the world's view of him becoming a god among men.

At the moment, the only thing I still have to add is that Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon were created in a sort of fused fashion between his first works and the original Guardians. They are basically his first type of Guardian with the exception of him not making them from an item, but rather in later years binding them to his Sun Staff.

**Clow Reed's Legacy**

Clow's Bloodline

Clow Reed, son of an English sorcerer and a woman from China's Li Clan. Though the greatest part of history says that Clow Reed was probably born some time during the 1600s, that is not necessarily the case. Due to the fact that China is connected to Europe by a large land bridge, and that there was quite probably travel along the Silk Road from the time that humans spread across the globe. But, for simplicity sake, I will not put any dates to his age, just that he was hundreds of years old. During his life, he quite conceivably had many wives and still many more children. Though the Li Clan boasts their blood relation to him, they most probably are not the only ones.

Yelan, last of her family line to bear the surname of 'Reed', was the product of one of these marriages that Clow had. In the case of her ancestor, he married a Chinese woman (whom I have named Ba Ying for anyone who happens to be interested) from the western coast of China. From that union came Yelan's dead father. A sweet girl, timid and mild by nature, yet naturally bearing a terrifying power. The true nature of her life story is being censored here due to the fact that it plays something of a role to the back story of future events that I do not wish to spoil for the audience. By the time she was fourteen, she was married off to her distant relative, the head of the Li Clan.

Though they knew nothing of each other at the time, their personalities proved compatible and they became one of those few lucky arranged marriages where the couple truly do fall in love. They had their first daughter ten months after their marriage, a second thirteen months after the first, and then a full year and a half later she gave birth to twins. Four years passed before she gave birth once more to an heir, a son that the father named Xiao Lang after a legend in the area. Xiao Lang was still very small at the time of his father's death, which left Yelan heartbroken but determined. She held the title of Warlord, and she would do what she must to ensure the survival of the Clan, as well as the survival of her children.

From that day, when her husband died, onward, Yelan was determined to shape her children into strong warriors. She locked up her heart, and took on an outlook of tough love, forcing all of them, Xiao Lang especially, to grow up much faster than they would have otherwise. Fudie, who had been reared to be Clan heiress until her brother was born was rather more used to the treatment, but Xiefa, who had been lucky enough to avoid much of that harsher treatment, as well as just had a very motherly disposition to begin with, took it upon herself to play mother for her four siblings instead, now.

Xiao Lang showed potential for very powerful magic; therefore his training was intensified further in order for him to harness this ability. He was told repeatedly from several people that he was destined for greatness, that he would be the replacement for Clow Reed, to the point that he came to believe it. It was only when he came to meet Sakura that the idea that someone could be powerful outside of breeding even occurred to him, and then of course when that came to his mind, he began to doubt other things he had been taught. And worse, doubt himself.

Final Spell

Ever since the revelation of Horcruxes, all cross over writers of these two stories must ask themselves: is the spell that Clow Reed cast a Horcrux spell? Or perhaps a variation? My response for this is quite simply and completely no. The spell that Clow used was Sorcery, simple as that. He used his magic to artificially create two eleven year old boys, and then used his magic to put his soul into both. It was fundamentally a simple enough process, though it required mass amounts of magic to complete.

The true wonder, and what this section is to discuss, is what Clow chose to give each of the reincarnations and why. Let’s start out with the inheritance left to Fujitaka. Made from Clow's recessive, more British genes, he bore far less appearance to Clow than the other. But in face and abilities, he was every bit like Clow. He was not given magic, but was that because Clow could not split the magic, or because he would not? Kero said that he was awoken when someone with magic touched the Clow Book. Clow intended for Fujitaka to grow up and have Sakura who would become the new mistress of the Clow Cards. If Clow had given him magic, he would have stopped ageing like Eriol had and even if he didn't, he would have had magic and that would have awoken Yue and Cerberus at once. They would have seen the Clow Reed in Fujitaka and pronounced him the new Master, and nothing would have changed.

Clow also did not give Fujitaka any memory of being Clow. Why? I think it was because he didn't want to make Fujitaka suffer. He wanted Fujitaka to be the man he never could. To live the life of a normal person like he had always wanted to. He never fit in as a youth because of his family, he became even more ostracized by his outstanding powers. He became bitter, selfish, and at times childish. And then something happened to make him see that his way of living was wrong. And so he made Fujitaka everything that he wasn't: a person with no history who had no magic, and more compassion then most could ever feel.

What did Fujitaka choose for himself? He became fascinated with history, wanting to know the past and origins of things. Was this due to some sort of latent or erased memory of Clow's life living in those times? Was this because he had never known who he was or where he came from? Who can say? It was most likely a mixture of things that compiled to lead to his life decisions.

As for Eriol, he was given Clow's looks, his power, and his mind. But was that his gift? Or maybe was he made as a side effect, somewhere to put everything because they couldn't be given to Fujitaka? Eriol proved to be the one doomed to make sure that all of Clow’s plans turned out. Stuck for three decades as a child, alone in the world, just waiting for his other half to have the wonderful family and gain the beloved Guardians and Cards. It's not surprising that Clow made it so that Fujitaka was immune to Eriol's magic in order to stop his murder in a childish fit of jealousy!

Knowing what sort of freak he was, not born from a woman's womb, but rather from the spell of a man who thought he had the right to twist the forces of nature and fate to his own liking. Not even able to get close to other people now that he lives, because his lack of change would be too much a give away to be able to know them for more then a year or so. He created his own Guardians, like Clow Reed before him, his own replacements to be his own family. His biggest wish, above all other things, was to not be the strongest or the best anymore. He didn't want to be one of a kind; he wanted to be as normal as he could manage.

Sakura's Original Magic

In the later chapters of the manga, while Sakura was changing the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, the things everyone was saying about it brought up a lot of questioning in my mind. First, I will sate what I understood from the first. That while the Clow Cards were such, they drew their magic from Clow and so he could halt or even redirect them as he pleased. So to make the magic work, Sakura had to take the cards from Clow and make them into something beyond his control. That now that they had a new Mistress, like Yue the cards were draining the reserve magic and were starting to die.

Well, then why would people call it Sakura's own special magic? The cards appearance hardly changes, and their abilities are copied perfectly, it's not even like they gained any new personality traits or anything. They are, for all tense and purposes, Clow's cards still, only drawing magic from Sakura instead. But during one of my bouts of deep thinking, it dawned on me that I was making a fundamental and, I'll admit, detrimental error in my pondering. I was forgetting that natural talent and mass power do not equal knowledge. To assume that anyone, especially a small child, could proficiently create anything without prior learning or instructions would be quite foolish, indeed.

Sakura, impressive heroine that she is, had no prior knowledge to anything involving magic before her tenth birthday. She didn't even know about the five Eastern Elements, as stated by her when she captured Earthy. Her only experience with how to work magic was through the Clow Cards, and with only Cerberus and Syaoran to be her teachers, neither showed much actual promptness to teach beyond what the situation at hand required. So in a lot of ways, she was wandering blind, figuring pretty well everything out for herself as she went along.

Is everyone following so far? So here’s how it worked out: Sakura, filled with vast amounts of magic, but fearing its existence within herself, comes across the Clow Book, and becomes the Card Captor. She learns all about her cards as she catches them, their strengths, their weaknesses, their personalities, everything. Each card, to her, is read with greater ease then a story book, and each card, to her, is a dear and important friend. Then, once she has all the cards, danger comes about and she must strengthen her bond to the cards and make them her own. The urgency of the danger makes it less dangerous for her, as it gives an actual need and requirement to boost the power of the card. Not knowing anything other than the cards, she leaves them as is and just feeds them her own magic instead. This also makes the transition easier, because it's not creating something new; it's only updating something old.

This, as it stands, leads to the next step, shown in the last episode of the anime and the idea of which is being used as a fundamental point in my story. Now that she knows how to create the cards, she knows everything about them, the only logical next step is to move away from the original blueprints designed by Clow Reed and go on to draw up a few of her own. Namely, The Love, and in a way, The Hope.

**Time line**

Just to clear things up, some important events and their corresponding dates.

April, 1994: Sakura turns ten, also at some point within the first week Sakura goes into her father's study and finds the Clow Book. Windy is found within the next day or two and returns to the book of its own accord. Thus begins Sakura's adventures as a Card Captor.

July, 1994: Li Syaoran comes to Japan to find the Clow Cards (admittedly this did not happen until December in the manga, but I need to scrunch the time line a bit). At this point Sakura is in possession of Windy, Wood, Jump, Fly, Watery, Illusion, and Flower.

September 1, 1994: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and company enter their fourth year at Hogwarts.

Late Fall, 1994: Sakura captures the last card and goes through Yue's judgement (note that in the manga this would have most likely happened in winter of '95, but as said before I am trimming this down a bit)

Start of Third Trimester, 1995: Eriol joins Sakura's class (for those of you who don't know, school starts in Japan in spring, summer break signals the end of the first trimester, winter break signals the end of the second, and then spring break signals the end of the year. So this is somewhere around January, but I don't know the schooling system clearly enough to state for sure what the date would be. Also, the fact that they are in short-sleeved uniforms when Eriol arrives in the manga, means that it's probably the start of the second trimester of 96, but... that would have Sakura already 12 at this point and Hogwarts brings students in when they're 11.)

April 1, 1995: Sakura turns 11. Also right in this area, they move from the fourth grade into the fifth.

June, 1995: Sakura transforms the Light and Dark, she splits Eriol’s magic between himself and her father, allowing Eriol to age once more, and Eriol goes back to England with Kaho. Syaoran, who is in love with Sakura, decides to keep his feelings to himself because of his Mother's calling him to return to Hong Kong. Sakura is highly upset by this news and in a fit of emotion, creates an original card: The Love. Realizing her feelings, she makes Syaoran a bear, but is late getting to the bus stop and barely hands the bear over to Syaoran. (Being that in the manga, they went from short sleeves to long sleeves to winter coats, to short sleeves, and then finally are wearing long sleeves again at this point, she probably was having her final battle against Eriol in the mid to late fall, maybe even early winter, of 97 at this point, so that means she'd be 13... I don't think Clamp MEANT for her to be 13 at this point as that means she would have already been in middle school, I think they wanted her to be 11-12ish, so I'm sticking with her being 11.)

Late June, 1995: Harry and company end their fourth year at Hogwarts with the death of Cedric Diggory and the revival of Lord Voldemort.

Late July, 1995: Eriol contacts Sakura about one last card that Clow had made as a seal for the others to keep them calm after his death. He tells her he's been haunted by visions lately, and fears it might become active now that it's not sealing anything and she must go and locate this 20th card. She asks him for advice on how to beat it, and he tells her that it's looking for her strongest feeling, and that it will take that feeling as payment for capturing it. Sakura is upset by this, but when the Void takes even Yue and Cerberus from her, she is willing to do what she must to protect everyone else. What it takes from her is her new card, and fuses with it to form The Hope. (This event has a very important part to my story, but I won't give it away quite yet...)

August 14th, 1995: Sakura and Syaoran receive letters via owl requesting their attendance at Hogwarts.

So, Sakura's story with the cards takes place over 14 months, rather than the 3 ½ years from the manga, but it is essentially the same story, with all the same events, in pretty much the same order. The only main difference for the most of it is what uniform and clothes the kids are running around in. Some things like the white day chapter would just be bumped over to the proper date for White Day. Same with Valentine Day, and other such special holidays. But seeing as for the most part things like that aren't really set in stone in the manga, indeed few of them are even a part of the story line beyond just passing comment, I feel safe in compressing the events to make them able to fit.

One last side note before I send this off to whomever may read it; all subject matter is open for discussions and debate. Indeed, I enjoy hearing what people's own personal opinions are, and anything that can improve the quality of my writing is always most welcome.


	2. Prelude: A Glance at Another Type of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three different sources, three different sorcerers. Fate, once set in motion, can not be stopped. Eriol knows this all to well, therefore in order to protect those most precious to him, certain sacrifices must be made. But the first step in any game is to set up the playing pieces.

AN: After several years since the original postings, I have decided to go back and update the earlier chapters in order to fix the errors in grammar, spelling, and a few misunderstood facts. There may be the rare rewrite of a scene, but I'm trying to avoid such things because I want to preserve my growth as a writer. Therefore, the only scenes that will be altered will be ones I find redundant, or that I was never happy with in the initial telling of the story and feel I can make better now.

And further, I would like to note that for this story Syaoran/Shaoran will be referred to outside of Sakura's speech as Xiao Lang, which from what I have seen seems to be the most universally accepted way to write his original name in English. Because honestly speaking, “Syaoran” is merely the Japanese attempting to pronounce the Chinese name rather than his real name. So instead of writing the English approximation of the Japanese approximation of his Chinese name, for a story that will be taking place in Great Britain and written in English, I will just be using the English approximation of his Chinese name. Sakura, however, as a native Japanese speaker with a Japanese accent, will continue to refer to him by her best approximation of his name that she can manage.

This story is based off of the Card Captor Sakura manga with an altered ending (details of which can be read in the prequel story, “Birth of the Deck Master”) crossed over with Harry Potter. This story will be taking place during Harry's fifth year (Order of the Phoenix, for anyone who doesn't know) and will start off closely following the fifth book before derailing and heading into new territory. And once again, no, this is not a “saving Harry Potter” fic, if that is what you are looking to find, then by all means find it somewhere else.

Legend:

“English”  
“ _Japanese_ ”

“ **Chinese** ”

_Thought or Written word_

//Long distance communication (telephone, etc.)//

Prelude: A Glance at Another Type of Life

The television rattled on undisturbed, broadcasting it's late night movie. Some drama the name of which would fade from the ancient memory of Eriol Hiiragizawa not long after the credits rolled. But still he kept his eyes trained on the images of the imaginary people, doing his best to shut out the world beyond. It was a futile effort, but one that he strived for nonetheless in the way that everyone enjoying the mindless pursuit did.

Within the dark room, the only light illuminating the two occupants was the dull off-blue of the screen. Nakuru and Spinel had already been sent to bed, as they were young and needed their rest, but the ancient reincarnation wanted to take this chance to be alone with the woman who loved him. Absently stroking his thumb across one of Kaho's thighs from where his hand rested gently upon her knee, he enjoyed the small form of affection she returned by idly running her fingers through his hair.

It really wasn't fair, Eriol was tempted to complain, that for the last thirty years he had been stuck in the body of an eleven year old boy. If he had been allowed, as his counterpart Fujitaka had, to grow and age like a normal human after his creation by Clow Reed, he wouldn't have to hide his love from the world. Kaho wouldn't have to suffer, or fear imprisonment should they ever be caught, all because of an apparent age gap that wasn't even real.

Really, it wasn't like the beautiful woman had sought him out for the sake of being with a child. He had seen the confusion and fear in her eyes as she slowly found herself falling in love with the reincarnation of the god-like Clow Reed trapped in the form of a small child. He had watched her heart war with her mind over the feelings she could not help but develop, and had felt the threads of fate bound him to her just as deeply in return.

Having all the memories of being Clow Reed, who himself had lived hundreds of years of life, Eriol had recognized well the enamoured state of destiny. She was the one he was supposed to be with, and she loved him despite everything he was and wasn't. And that had made remaining a child any longer than he had to an unbearable burden.

So for her, he had set destiny in motion far sooner than he should. He pushed his little star of hope and light beyond her limits again and again, unnaturally fast for the growth of one still so small. He had done it all for the sake of time, so that the final spell could be undone and he could grow into a man that Kaho could love.

He had watched her for many long months that bled into years, fretting over a love that he returned. He had watched her, unable to tell her how adamantly he admired and loved her back until he had a future once more rather than that unchanging eternity. And she, wonderful, beautiful, amazing Kaho, had promised to wait for him once his time was returned to him. She loved him, despite everything, and was happy that her feelings were returned.

Yet he knew that there were prices to be paid. He had altered destiny, set things in motion that could now not be undone. He had done this to his little heiress out of a selfish need to make the woman he loved most in the world his. Feeling a need to reinstate that it was actually worth it, Eriol pushed himself up to his knees and wrapped his arms around Kaho, drowning the unsuspecting woman in an almost desperate kiss.

It took her only a moment to respond to the sudden burst of affection, bringing her hands up somewhat hesitantly to his small sides and held him there until the both broke apart once more for air. As she looked up at him searchingly after the kiss, asking of him a thousand silent questions, he was reminded for a moment how truly young she was in comparison to his own ancient soul. She was a woman in her mid twenties, still learning and growing despite her title of “adult” as all do during those years. He on the other hand, despite his looks, had existed in one form or another for nearly a millennium.

She did not understand yet as the older seers did the true workings of fate, nor the prices one must pay to alter how things occurred. He doubted that anyone besides himself and the creator of it all actually understood destiny the way he did, but he had in his foolish youth conducted a taboo and so was cursed with seeing everything forever and so had little other choice but to observe how fate was truly laid out. And so, with a heavy heart for what his selfish actions had caused for those he loved, he informed Kaho, “I have a job for you...”

* * *

Li Yelan stood over the pair of sarcophagi that the esteemed Li Clan had been sent. What had her young son been up to that had lead to him getting such a present? And from her deceased grandfather, Clow Reed, no less? Yes, she was the last of a long list of descendents to bear his name, but had lost it when she married the head of the Clan, in hopes of producing a Card Captor.

And yet, although all five of her children were exceptional, not even her powerful young son could succeed in bringing back the Clow Cards. A failure that brought much shame to his otherwise noble and great name. “Mu qin (1)?” speaking of which…

“ **Yes, Xiao Lang?** ” Yelan asked, without even turning around.

Xiao Lang came around into her line of sight, now that he had been acknowledged, and bowed low at the waist as he presented her with an envelope addressed to him in curly green English writing. “ **I… I** **want** **to go, mother, to prove myself, somehow. I have lost face, and… something else while I was in Japan looking for the Cards. I wish to retrieve some of it back by following in Clow Reed’s footsteps and learning both styles of magic. Who knows, I may even be able to one day make my own set of Cards, much like the Card’s new Mistress changed the ones she had to fit her power…** ”

Taking the letter from the boy's hands, the Clan matriarch read it over quickly before returning her gaze to her eleven year old son. “ **Are you sure about this, Xiao Lang? You know your coronation would be taking place in the middle of their school year.** ”

“ **Yes, Mu qin,** ” he reassured, before adding in a whisper, “ **I don’t know what’s wrong with me, mother, but I’m just not happy here anymore…** ”

“ **Very well, pack your bags; someone shall arrange for your flight shortly so that you may purchase your supplies. Afterwards, you can stay there if you like, or come back here,** ” Yelan snapped authoritatively.

It was only after her son bowed and hurried out of the room that she let her head bow and shoulders slump.  _What could you have been up to indeed…?_

* * *

 

  1. I speak zero Chinese, and to my limited knowledge there are several different dialects of the language, many of which can't even understand each other. However, the online dictionary that I looked up said that this was a very formal and respectful way to address one's mother. I can only hope that it is correct, and if not, please feel free to inform me of my mistake.



* * *

Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero lay sprawled on the living room floor of the Kinomoto household. They were made to lie on the floor because Touya and Yukito were snuggled on the couch. The five of them were going over Sakura’s old tapes, looking for possible weak-spots or predictable patterns that she may be using to help her in her training. Their dad, Fujitaka, was in the other room making popcorn for his two children and their guests.

“ _Oh, oh, oh! Rewind that, will you, Daidouji?_ ” Touya suddenly asked.

“ _Hmm? Oh, yes…_ ” Tomoyo said, hitting the stop, rewind, and play.

As the scene, they were watching—the school sports day when she caught The Flower—came close to where it was before it was stopped, Yukito looked at his lover questioningly. “ _Was there something in her form you wanted to point out?_ ” asked the ever sweet grey haired man. (1)

“ _No,_ ” Touya responded in an almost bored voice, but the mirth was still evident as an undertone, “ _I just wanted to see the monster drop the baton on her head again…_ ”

Sakura instantly sat up from where she had been using the winged cougar as a beanbag and turned to her brother with puffed up reddened cheeks. “ _I’m NOT a monster!!_ ” she cried, slapping her palms on the floor in frustration. “ _Yuki! Make him be nice!!_ ”

Yukito seemed torn for a moment between the one he loved and the one he served. Finally, he bowed his head to the Card Mistress, and turned to Touya. “ _Either you be nice, or I’m going to have to remove you from the room for a little time out._ ”

“ _Is that a promise?_ ” Touya teased, running his fingers through Yukito’s hair.

Before Yukito could reply, Sakura turned and said, “ _Could you two take it into the other room or something? I’m trying to study this!_ ”

Yukito and Touya got up to move to Touya’s room, and instantly Sakura and Tomoyo kidnapped the couch so have something other than Cerberus to lie on. But just as they plopped down, the phone rang and Touya lifted it to his hear. “Moshi moshi?” he asked into the receiver.

// _Uh, hi… is Kinomoto Sakura there?_ // asked a male voice on the other end.

“ _Who are you, and why do you want to talk to her?_ ” Touya asked immediately.

“ _Who is it, Onii-chan?_ ” Sakura asked her over-protective brother. His only reply was to wave her away.

// _Look, I don’t have time for this, could you just put her on, or tell me she’s not there, or that I have a wrong number or something?_ // the voice on the other end was tired and laden with a thick Chinese accent that spoke with rude words.

This fact made Touya’s brow contract. “ _Oi, Gaki, is that you?_ ” complained Touya. “ _How many times have I told you to keep away from my sister!?_ ”

“ _Syaoran-kun?? Ne, Onii-chan! Give it here!!_ ” Sakura cried, suddenly at her brother’s side, hopping around to try and get a hold of the receiver. “ _Yuki!! Help me!_ ” She whined, and dutifully her Moon Guardian complied and snatched the receiver from her brother’s hands and handed it over to his young Mistress.

At Touya’s huff, Yukito shrugged and said, “ _I don’t have a choice. I have to obey my Mistress…_ ”

Sakura ignored them completely, and brought the phone to her ear at once. “ _Moshi moshi? Syaoran-kun?_ ”

// _Sakura? Is that you?_ //

“ _Syaoran-kun! Oh, I’m so happy! I’ve missed you so much! Please tell me you’re coming back to visit soon. It’s just not the same not having you here with me…_ ”

There was a pause, and when Xiao Lang spoke again, his voice was strained. // _Yeah… I’ve… missed you all, too… but, uh, no… I’m not coming back… in fact, I’m calling because I have some bad news…_ //

“ _Syaoran-kun…? Wh-what is it? Are you in trouble? Do you need help? Is there anything I can do??_ ” she was starting to panic, she didn’t like the tone of his voice, and she didn’t like the way he was talking. It made her uneasy. 

He was quiet for a very long time, only the sound of his breathing let her know the line hadn't been cut. //Sakura…// he started but then stopped and was quiet again for a moment more. // _Kinomoto-san, I called to tell you… that I won’t be coming to visit any more…_ // 

She felt like the ground had suddenly disappeared from under her feet.  _He-he had to be joking… right??_ “ _Syaoran-kun…_ ”

// _Please, Sakura! Just-just listen, okay…? I’m… I’m going to be going away for a very long time… for years… I won’t be able to come and see you…_ //

It hurt to hear… but she wouldn’t cry over the phone, she wouldn’t lay that guilt on him. “ _Well, that’s okay, I guess. I mean, we still have e-e-mail and--_ ”

// _No Saku-Kinomoto-san, I’m not going to be around any computers or--_ //

“ _Well, there’s the telephone!_ ” she interrupted hurriedly, not wanting to hear what he had to say next. “ _Or-or letters!! We can keep in touch!_ ”

// _No, Kinomoto-san, we can’t…I’m… not going to be able… to talk to you any more… just… just forget about me, okay?_ //

“ _Syaoran-kun… iie…_ ” she whispered into the receiver.

// _I’m going to forget about you and it’s best that you do the same with me… I’ll be gone too long for you to hold on… just… goodbye, Sakura… I-I… oh forget it!_ // and with that the line clicked off.

Sakura stood unmoving, just holding onto the receiver with her eyes blanked out, for a long time after he hung up. She just couldn’t grasp it…  _Syaoran-kun… gone…? All my dreams of true love… gone…? Everything we went through… everything that we were to each other?? Does none of it really matter to him??_ at the first of the beeping that the line made, Sakura threw the phone down and ran to her room to escape the eyes of her brother, friend, and guardians.

Almost as soon as the door slammed above them, Fujitaka came out with the bowl of popcorn and a letter. Glancing around he asked, “ _Where is Sakura-san?_ ”

“ _She went upstairs. She seemed rather upset. Why do you want her?_ ” Touya replied.

“ _Well, it’s just that I got this letter to a boarding school in the strangest of ways… from the beak of an owl… and it wants her to attend a wizarding school named Hogwarts…_ ”

* * *

Technically speaking, none of the Guardians have genders. They are non-reproductive and so lack the reproductive organs that segregate them as “male” or “female”. They are not even asexual or hermaphrodites, they simply do not have a means of reproduction, sexual or otherwise. As such, the most proper term to use for them would be “it”, but that just sounds insulting according to English grammar and culture, and so I find it very hard to refer to them as such. For sake of ease, and to avoid just using their names repeatedly, I will instead refer to them by “he” (Yue/Yukito, Kero, and Spinel) and “she” (Ruby Moon/Nakuru) within this story.

* * *

Well, there you have it, folks! The prelude, in all its twisted glory. This story will be written through both the eyes of the HP characters and the CCS characters. Also, this story goes by the idea of the snowball effect, so even if it does start off nearly identical to the book in events, it will change more and more as I write… Well, that’s all I can really think of for now, so...

Shade and Sweet Water

Keysha


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hand delivered letter arrives for Dumbledore at Grimmauld Place and puts everybody in an uproar.

And here we have it, a re-write of the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Deck Master, which oddly enough technically takes place between the first and second scenes in the prelude. The “important job” Eriol was referring to was the delivering of the letter and would have taken place during the night of the 11th or early morning of the 12th, and the following scenes take place on the 14th. However, for simplicity and because the chapters were already named and posted as such, I decided to just leave this as chapter 1 and that as the prelude.

* * *

Chapter 1: Dumbledore’s Mission

It was Saturday, August 12, 1995, and Harry Potter was at his court hearing.

Sirius paced impatiently around the room. He hated to admit it, but part of him wanted Harry to be tried guilty so that they could stay together here. Lupin had been trying for most the morning to calm his irritable friend with little success, so when someone knocked on the door, he was relieved to have a momentary distraction.

That was, until he opened the door.

On the other side stood a woman. And not just any woman, but a beautiful woman. A woman that he had never laid eyes on before. A woman standing at the doorway to the Order of the Phoenix: a place that no one but members were supposed to be able to see. Apart from her technically not being rightfully there, she was very attractive, in her mid-twenties with long red-brown hair and brown eyes… wait, not brown, though at first one might think so, but they were really a strange greenish hazel…

Soft pink lips smiled over an eggshell face, and the oriental woman then spoke, “I have a letter here for Mr. Dumbledore, I would have sent it normally, but I do not have any owls. Please, could you give it to him?” and with that, she handed over a manila envelope and wandered back down the stairs.

Still not fully functioning at his total capacity after experiencing such a strange event, Lupin turned and wandered back down to the kitchen where Sirius awaited curiously. “Who was that at the door?”

“I donno...” Lupin replied truthfully.

“No, seriously, who was at the door?”

“I have no clue… some strange lady; I don’t have the slightest idea who she was, though. She just gave me this letter to give to Dumbledore and walked away…”

Sirius stared unbelieving at his best friend. “How did she see the door??” to which Lupin could only shrug. “Oh, f#$%...” Sirius grumbled. “NOW what’s going on?!?” he collapsed to the table with a huff.

“I’ll go contact everyone… something like this should be dealt with immediately…” Lupin said, turning to go.

“Something like what?” came Fred’s voice soon followed by the man himself.

“Nothing, Fred, go back up stairs.” Lupin said in a warning tone.

“But I’m hungry!” he wined, slipping easily around the thin man and over towards the pantry.

He was caught by the scruff of the neck by Sirius, who glared at the younger man. “I’ll bring you up something, then. But we’re in the middle of business. Get out.”

“What sort of business??” pushed Fred.

“OUT!!” Sirius finally barked at the teen, half chasing the young man out of the room. He then turned back to Lupin and chuckled. “Kids…”

“They remind me of you at that age…” Lupin commented, before going out of the room to call the others.

* * *

One could pretty safely say that that house had never been in more of an uproar than what this one letter had produced. After the initial complaints about the meeting being called in the middle of the day, when many had been at work or doing other things besides work for the Order, and had had quite a lot of trouble finding excuses to sneak away and come here. And after Sirius and Snape had had their little bickering match over whether or not Sirius was doing anything at all for the Order. And after all the greetings between members that had not seen each other in months or even years, they finally managed to get everyone calmed down enough to get out the story of what happened without major interruptions.

On the other hand, once the story had been told, things only got steadily worse. Now, there were twenty-some adults sitting in the room, arguing over whether or not they should open Dumbledore’s mail… At the moment, fathomless grey eyes were focusing on the letter, listening to the argument at hand.

“I say we should leave it, it has a dark magic to it!” Moody’s voice growled from somewhere behind Sirius’ head.

“Why do you say that? What’s it got on it?” Tonks challenged from somewhere to the left.

“No clue! It’s obviously evil! We should destroy it!” hollered the disfigured man.

“Oh, just cause you can’t see it, makes it evil?” sneered Tonks, though she was drowned out by another voice on the other side of the table.

“We can’t do that! It’s Dumbledore’s!” Molly shrieked.

Finally growing tired of the bickering, Sirius leaned forward and grabbed the letter, “Well, I for one want to know who wrote this so I know who knows where I live!” choosing to ignore Snape’s sneer about hiding, Sirius placed a nail under the wax seal.

* * *

Silently the Weasley children sat at the top of the stairs, never had they seen so many members of the Order all in one place.

“What do you think’s going on…?” Ginny asked, staring at the door.

“I don’t know… they had a letter when I was down there, but they kicked me out before I could hear or see anything…” Fred replied to his little sister.

“Maybe… maybe something really bad has happened…” Ron said, putting his face in his hands.

“You think?” George asked in a ‘no duh’ sort of tone.

“Well, I mean… what if someone was killed or something?” Ron asked worriedly.

Silence fell around the group. Ginny laid her head on George’s knee for a moment before saying, “Maybe we’ve got it wrong… maybe something good has happened! Maybe they’ve got a lead or-or they could have found a way to stop You-Know-Who from getting to the weapon…” Ginny suggested, getting more hopeful by the word.

“Or maybe Harry’s lost the court case and they’ve all gathered around here to decide what to do about it…” Hermione supplied, coming up and joining the group of redheads.

“Hermione!! How could you say something like that!?” Ron asked, appalled.

“Well, it’s a possibility, and we should keep our minds open to it. You have to have noticed how the Ministry is trying discredit Harry in every way that they--” she was cut off by a loud boom from in the kitchen. At once, the whole group of children were on their feet, hurrying to the kitchen door to check on what was wrong.

Ginny was the first there, she pushed her way through the imperturbable charm and grabbed the handle, shaking it wildly. Finally the pressure of the spell became too much and she was shot back into Ron and George, all of whom toppled to the ground in a heap of limbs.

* * *

“Sirius!!” Lupin cried, hurrying over to his dear friend’s side, where he lay smouldering on the other end of the room.

“Whoa!!” cried Tonks, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“Wh-what <cough!> happened?” Sirius asked, grabbing Lupin’s shoulder for support as he pulled himself to his feet.

“It looked like you were electrified,” admitted Snape with a snide grin at his long-time rival.

But the mood between the two was lessened at the sound of Tonks’ giggle. “Hehehe… come check this out! I think the letter’s insulting you!”

“What…?” Sirius replied in a disbelieving tone. The members of the Order all gathered around to see a message written on the back of the letter in a shimmering red ink.

_You shouldn’t read other peoples mail, you know, it’s rude…_

After a moment, the words faded away to nothingness. The baffled members of the Order looked among themselves for a second. “What now?” someone finally asked.

“Maybe a spell could get it open…?” Mundungus suggested.

“Moody, do you know any that might work?” Molly asked him. Moody nodded and pulled out his wand, tapping the letter and mumbling something. He put his wand back in his pocket, and when it became apparent that he wasn’t going to open the letter, Mundungus shook his head and reached forward to pull it open.

At once, fire jumped to his arm, burning its way up to his shoulder with a loud ‘whoosh’. One of the witches screamed, there was a large panic, and the fire was put out, leaving only minor burns on Mundungus’s arm. “What the hell!? What’d you do to it?!” the still smoking man cried in an outrage.

“I didn’t do anything. It wouldn’t let me cast the spell,” Moody admitted. The reply he got was a number of different ones:

Mundungus glared, “You could have told someone!”

Tonks looked horrified, “Didn’t let you?!”

Sirius looked highly concerned, “What could that mean?”

Lupin stared slack jawed, “That shouldn’t be possible…”

Snape looked mildly disturbed, “Preposterous.”

Molly became highly distracted at that moment because there was another knock at the door, “Oh, what now??”

A number of other people just stared in a shocked silence before a large group hurried up the stairs to quiet down the paintings and make sure that there wasn’t an attack on the other side of the door. On their way up, the kids were shunted up the stairs, ignoring the questions of what was going on, and a large group approached the door with wands at the ready.

“Oh! Oh my!” cried Arthur as he held up his hands, staring down his wife’s wand. “Am I in trouble for something? I didn’t forget the milk, did I?”

Molly rolled her eyes at her husband’s sense of humour. “Really, Arthur…”

“There’s trouble, we thought you may have been someone else…” Tonks said.

Sirius pushed through the throng of Order of the Phoenix members and pulled Harry into a hug. “Thank god you’re alright. I was so worried that something may have happened to you,” he mumbled through his godson’s hair.

“Who did you think I was?” Arthur asked the at-the-moment-blond.

“That’s the problem, we don’t know,” replied Tonks, getting a startled look from Arthur.

Lupin placed a hand on both Sirius and Harry’s shoulders while he spoke to Arthur, “There’s an emergency going on, have you seen Dumbledore?”

“Well, he was at the hearing, and helped Harry get off, but he left apart from us, so…” Arthur spoke as the whole lot hurried back down into the kitchen, leaving Harry and the other kids who were allowed to hurry down now that they knew who was on the other side of the door to lock up.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked as his friends gathered around him and the adults left.

“Donno mate… there was a knock on the door, then when Fred tried to slip down and see who was there, Sirius and Lupin were arguing about some letter or whatnot,” Ron started.

“Yeah, and then all these Order members showed up and hurried off down stairs not looking too happy!” Ginny interrupted.

“They said something about expecting someone else to be at the door, but not knowing who. What could be going on?” Harry informed the others.

“Who knows…” Hermione sighed.

“Looks like we got another mystery this year, eh mate?” Ron asked.

“What else is new…” Harry replied with a roll of his eyes.

* * *

“So… have you opened it yet?” Arthur asked as he eyed the letter, after having the situation explained to him.

“No…” admitted a female voice from somewhere behind all the other bodies.

“Well, the thing is…” Molly started, but was cut off by Arthur reaching forward and hooking a nail under the tab.

The sensation that he felt was unlike that of any other he had experienced. A sort of drowning almost, and great waves of confusion, where vision was hindered nearly useless and up and down were flipped. Voices rang in his ear but he couldn’t quite hear them, though finally the dizzy disorientation was starting to fade.

Fade to find Arthur Weasley sitting a good ten feet from where he was seconds before… sitting in Professor Severus Snape’s lap…

Snape was leaning back trying to distance himself from the elder Weasley who had just apperated into his lap. He looked at the red-head with all the offence that he felt at such a breach of his personal space. The older man grinned a stupid, apologetic smile to which Snape just curled his lip in distaste. Once the appropriate distance was achieved, Snape shifted in his chair and straitened his robes to achieve what little he could of his remaining dignity.

Tonks looked with wide eyes and a fighting smile just SCREAMING how much she wanted to laugh. “See, that’s the problem, it seems to do something different to each person who tries to open it.”

* * *

It was half past ten at night before Mrs. Weasley finally brought dinner up to the hungry children, and to all their curiosity they got no answers from the obviously nervous mother. She just sat down the plate of sandwiches and hurried back down the stairs, dodging the twin’s questions with relative ease. Little did they know that, for once, she was just as much in the dark as they were. For since that morning, in over twelve hours, they hadn’t figured out anything about the content of that letter.

They had given up trying to get into it some time ago, and most members of the Order had long since left, saying to contact them when they get the letter open. And though the hour grew ever later, Dumbledore was still nowhere to be found. Upon re-entering the kitchen, Molly found Lupin and Sirius glaring down the letter while Tonks attempted to take a nap, using her cousin’s lap as a pillow. Arthur had already fallen asleep in his chair and was even drooling slightly as his glasses barely hung to his nose.

They had all been draining both their minds and their magic for over twelve hours in an attempt to figure out how to get into this letter. Lupin rubbed his temples tiredly and asked. “So, so far, what have we figured out?”

“That nothing works!” growled Tonks, sounding almost as dog-like as her cousin.

Sirius smiled down at the frankness of the girl. She would have fit in so well with them, had she only been a little older… “We know that any spell that we try has no effect, and all the times we attempt to open it, we have a spell cast on us in no predictable order…”

Tonks, realizing that they weren’t going to stop working for anything, decided that she would keep working too. She pushed herself up from her cousin’s lap and added her two cents worth to the conversation. “And that means we can’t prepare for them, because casting an anti-freeze and an anti-flame charm on the same thing cancels them both out, and there’s no such THING as an anti-lightning or anti-teleport charm…”

“Yeeeess… who ever made this spell on this letter is either a certified genius or a complete lunatic,” Lupin said, shaking a hand through his lengthening hair, wondering mildly if he should cut it or let it continue to grow out.

“And that annoying message that keeps showing up… what was it again…?” Sirius asked, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes.

“I can’t believe you’ve forgot. We have been staring at it all day…! ‘You shouldn’t read other people’s mail, it’s rude’!” Tonks said with a roll of her momentarily brown eyes.

“You forgot the ‘you know’,” the canine-man replied tiredly.

Tonks playfully stuck her tongue out at him in reply. “Maybe… maybe it’s some sort of riddle…” Tonks pondered, letting her chin rest on the table and looking down her nose at the offending parchment.

“Maybe it’s just telling us to mind our own business and not read other people’s mail!” Molly said testily as she cleaned the plates that had the sandwiches for the children on them. Lupin just rolled his eyes, Molly had been like this all evening, and he had a headache.

“Maybe if we ask it nicely, not be ‘rude’, you know?” Tonks offered.

“If one more person says ‘you know’… I’ll bite them… I really will…” growled Lupin irritably.

Tonks just winked at him in a teasing manner. “Where’s Dung?” she asked the room in general.

“I think he wandered off with some of the family silver…” supplied Sirius carelessly, drawing circles on the table with the back of his fork. “Why?”

“What, do you think I was going to try it?” Tonks asked disbelievingly.

Sirius shrugged, “How would you talk him into it?”

The younger cousin winked at the older one, “I am an Auror, after all, and he is a criminal…”

Sirius just smiled. _Yep, she would have fit in very well…_

Tonks suddenly got rather nervous and began changing her appearance out of natural discomfort. When the two older men looked at her questioningly, she replied with, “What are we going to tell Dumbledore…?”

“What do you mean…?” questioned Sirius.

“Are we really going to tell him that we were going through his mail…?” Tonks asked, looking around as if she expected him to jump out of a corner and accuse them or something.

The two ex-Gryffindors looked at each other. “Well… it’s not like we actually did get into it…” Lupin started nervously.

Tonks turned her attentions at once onto her cousin. “You were to first one to try and open it, you take the blame!”

“Me? No way!”

“It’s not like he can kick you out, it’s your house and you’re a wanted man!”

“That means I won’t be able to get—umpf!”

Lupin had finally just stood and put a hand over each of the cousin’s mouths. “Can I just finish my sentence…?” he demanded looking from one to the other. “Being that we haven’t succeeded in opening it, then let’s just keep it quiet that we tried, okay…?”

Molly turned on them at once. “No! No, no, no! Not a chance! What if it hurts Dumbledore too?!”

“You’re the one that kept yelling at us to leave it be,” Sirius complained. “I think Remus has a good idea, it’s not like we know what’s in it, or anything.”

“Yes! Very smart of you! You should have been Ravenclaw!” cheered Tonks, happy that she wouldn’t have to deal with a plausibly angry Dumbledore.

She soon got up to help Molly with the cleaning, even though she was more of a hindrance then a help, but Lupin took the full advantage of her stepping away. “I know that look… you’re trying to place that little girl you had to pry off to so you could come to meetings in the young woman that’s working so hard to help run this place…”

“Thirteen years… really has changed her. Yet, even back then we knew that if the Order was still around when she got older, she’d be in it…”

Lupin chucked softly to himself, “And we still have to pry her off of her favourite cousin…”

Sirius hit Lupin playfully in the arm, “Shut up.”

* * *

Eleven o’clock came and went to find Tonks attempting to nap on Sirius’s lap again while he read from an old book they had tucked away in the library and Lupin nursing a goblet of butterbeer. The book wasn’t too interesting, just an old journal kept by one of the Black ancestors, but it was something to do. At half passed, Sirius closed the book and handed it to Lupin, who went and got another. Midnight, Tonks had finally fallen asleep in a position only she could manage to be comfortable in. A few dirty goblets littered the large cedar table, Arthur had finally been awoken by Molly, and the two had retired to bed. Sirius still read aloud, though quieter then before so not to disturb his little cousin, and Lupin was beginning to be lulled slightly by the calm and even voice of his childhood friend.

It was a quarter after midnight when the kitchen door opened. Sirius looked around; pausing in his reading and Lupin stood to greet the long awaited Dumbledore. At the shifting of Sirius’s body, Tonks stirred awake. While Lupin grabbed up the letter and hurried towards Dumbledore with it, Sirius helped the young woman into a full sitting position. She covered her mouth as she yawned and then rubbed her eye with the heel of her palm.

“Mnn? Wha-time is it?” she slurred in her sleepy state.

“Quarter after midnight,” Sirius informed her.

“Oh… good morning, then.”

“Morning…” he replied with minor amusement.

Meanwhile, Lupin was talking with Dumbledore. “Finally you got here! The whole place has been in an uproar for the whole day! This letter arrived--”

“Ah, yes, I was wondering when he would write again…” Dumbledore said, opening the letter without the slightest problem.

“—A woman brought it to the door!!” Lupin stressed.

“A red head? Medium height, oriental, rather attractive…?”

“You… know her??” Lupin, Sirius, and Tonks asked in unison.

“Oh, no, it says here that she’s Mr. Reed’s assistant, and not to be alarmed if she should deliver the letter herself, apparently she has trouble dealing with owls…” The three looked at each other, and then back at the old Headmaster in front of them.

“Um… Dumbledore…?” Sirius finally chose to venture. “Who is the letter from?”

“A very old correspondent of mine who’s judgement I hold very highly. Mr. Reed is a brilliant man, who even discovered a way to charm letters so that only the one it’s written to can open it. It’s a very good thing that you left it alone, otherwise who knows what may have happened…”

Tonks grasped her mouth with both hands to try and choke down the giggles, Dumbledore looked at her with raised eyebrows over the top of his half-moon glasses. “Mr. Weasley got teleported into Snape’s LAP!!” she squealed with mirth.

Dumbledore looked at Lupin and Sirius. They were about to go into a big long explanation about how they didn’t know that it was a friend of Dumbledore’s and that it could have been a threat or something along that lines that couldn’t wait until he got in over twelve hours later, when Dumbledore smiled and announced, “Really? I think I may have enjoyed seeing that…” and went back to reading.

Seeing as they had managed to avoid Dumbledore’s wrath so far, they decided to not push their luck as he sat and “humm”ed and “uhumm”ed his way through the last of the letter. But seeing as the readers have nothing to fear from a character in a story, the letter:

_Dear Albus,_

_I’m sorry for not writing to you in the last while, and please, do not be alarmed if this letter is not delivered by an owl, my assistant (a lovely medium sized woman with long red-brown hair of oriental descent) tends to have problems with them. She has my full trust though, so whatever you may be up to, it’s safe with her. I heard that you have been having quite the problems with convincing people that this era’s Lord of Darkness is indeed returned, but do not lose hope, before this time next year, the world will know and you will have all the support from the Ministry that you could ever desire, and then some._

_I dare say, even, that you may win this time. Though casualties are expected, as always in war, but you have your enemy’s weapon in your hand and can afford a moment to laugh right now, for I fear that a moment is all that you may have left._

_Yes, I suppose you knew when you received this letter from your companions that it would not bare purely good tidings. Unfortunately, those with power draw too much trouble to themselves to stay out of it for long. That is why I write to you, two young children I know of need to learn to control their chaotic powers. I know that foreign students are not usually permitted in Hogwarts, but it is European magic they need, and I know you well enough to know that you will provide them with all the help you are able to._

_I am sorry to say that if they do not learn soon, then a great disaster will fall upon this world, worse than even what your Lord of Darkness could bestow. It is worth bending the rules in this one instance, it is one of the most important things I will ever ask you to do. I will keep in touch with both you and them, and the best of luck to you. Their mailing information is written on the back._

_Take care,_

_Clow Reed_

Albus Dumbledore looked at the letter a second time through, knowing that often essential keys to the future could be found in the writings of his long-time friend. The man’s perception and foresight was breathtaking. And yet, a ‘great disaster’ could mean any number of things. How could one prepare for something so vague?

Finally, with a last shake of his head he stood up. “Forgive me, Sirius, but I will be in need of your study. I must write a message at once,” and with that he walked out of the room.

* * *

This chapter really didn't have much of it's contents altered, just a few words here or there to lessen the repetitiveness, I finally found the name of that one spell (I can't believe I forgot to look that up before posting originally), and punctuation was corrected. As a whole, though, this is one of my favourite chapters that took absolutely no teeth-pulling to type so I consider it an example of what I had been truly capable of. Because whenever I force my way through a writer's block, the writing seems to be sub-par, at least from my personal stand-point. As for the characterizations of the different characters, the rough draft of this story was written before Half Blood Prince came out, and this chapter was initially written before I had a chance to read the book. Therefore, information about characters that came out in the last two books have no bearing on the personalities presented here. So if anything seems OOC in hindsight, do keep that fact in mind. And even to this day, I still prefer Tonks's characterization in the 5th book over that which she was shown to have in the 6th and 7th books. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the future chapters of this story. Shade and Sweet Water.


	4. Chapter 2: What Road is Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With questions facing Sakura and Xiao Lang that could change their lives forever, the two sorcerers take some time to prepare themselves for what is to come.

And here we are, back to the 14 th and 15 th of August. I was never a big fan of the way the Li sisters were portrayed in the first movie, they didn't act at all like the daughters of an important family line. They just kind of acted like a mass of dumb bimbos, and I seriously doubt with the intensity that Syaoran's training was shown to be, that his older sisters would be allowed to behave in such a manner. And so, while I kept the names and appearances of the Li family from the anime for simplicity's sake, their mannerisms will not necessarily coincide. In these first early chapters where Syaoran is shown interacting with them, the goal was to not only show who they are as characters in this story, but how their individual personalities helped shape Syaoran into the person he is.

* * *

Chapter 2: What Road is Mine

Owls… such a small bird could not carry something as cumbersome as a letter, half way around the world. And yet, as anyone in the wizarding community would tell you, there are wizards all across the planet. To many, they never think about the process that their letters take to get from one country to another, many don’t even know anyone from farther away than an owl can fly, so they wouldn’t care. But for those that do, and for those that wonder, let us take a minor detour and see what actually goes on in long distance correspondence.

It all starts out, naturally, with a letter. Let’s visit the writer of one now, a Professor Albus Dumbledore who writes to possible candidates for students overseas. When writing long distance letters, it is important to put on lots of information, because the bird that you start with isn’t going to be the bird that delivers the letter. After the directions, hand the letter to the owl, don’t worry about tying it on, unless you are far away from your closest Ministry of Magic headquarters. If so, just tie it loosely so that the owl doesn’t have to worry about holding on the whole time.

The owl takes off, soaring through the stars. It is truly magical, to fly, even though every bird and insect can do it, you must know that it is still a thing of magic to be so free. An owl isn’t the symbol of wisdom for nothing, they can be quite smart. It takes the letter to the Ministry, to a place made up of large crates painted orange with big signs above them all. This owl stops in two places, one is to drop a letter in the crate labelled ‘Japan’ and the other in the crate labelled ‘China – South Eastern’. There the letters sit, and sit, and sit, waiting for the next twelve o’clock to tick by.

When it finally hits noon, the letters are teleported, much like using a portkey, to the desired destination. Once the letter reaches the proper country, the addresses are read aloud to Ministry owls who take them to their appointed houses. Thus, the day after Albus Dumbledore wrote a letter to Sakura Kinomoto and Xiao Lang Li, they arrive at the appointed houses and are read by the family.

* * *

Fujitaka knocked on the door for the third time in a row. No one was answering. Finally, he sighed and turned the handle. He hated going into his children’s rooms uninvited, but this was important and Sakura was very upset. Yue had even been woken up by the emotional output of his daughter and now paced incisively at the foot of the stairs.

“ _Sakura-san…?_ ” he asked softly as he opened the door. Still getting no reply, he ventured to peak his head in. At once, he located her; she was lying on her bed, eyes red from being cried dry, playing with her black teddy bear. At the moment she was idly manoeuvring the arms so that it played peek-a-boo at her. The deadness in the eyes and face of his usually overly emotional, lively daughter scared Fujitaka. It reminded him of the look that had been on Touya’s face the day the boy had come home from school and told his father that their mother was dead.

Though Fujitaka knew it already, he had been shocked when his son had informed him of it before he had even called the school. Fujitaka remembered that day well, when Touya lost his faith in the goodness of the world… when Touya lost his smile… As any father would, this was the last thing that he wanted to happen to his little girl. So, he approached the situation with far more caution then he had done when Touya had made that look. “ _Sakura-san… sweetie…? Would you like to talk about something?_ ”

Her face squeezed as if fighting tears, but the tears had long run out, it was a look of pure pain and heartache. A look Fujitaka himself felt when his beautiful wife had died. Finally, Sakura just shook her head ‘no’ and hugged the bear to her chest tightly.

“ _All right… Do you want me to send someone else up? Yue and Cerberus are very worried about you… so are Daidouji-san and Touya-san…_ ”

After a moment, more of silence Sakura bolted up into a sitting position and flung her arms around her father’s neck. At once, he held her small frame in a protecting and loving hug. After a long time of just sobbing dryly, she started to talk, at once saying the thing that came to her mind first. “ _Don’t I mean anything to him?!?_ ” she wailed. “ _How could he… just forget me like that…?! Tell me to forget him like that?!?_ ”

Not really understanding what she was saying, but knowing that it was Xiao Lang on the phone from what he had been told downstairs, he rubbed her back lovingly, trying his best to sooth his heartbroken little girl. Rocking her carefully, he sung to her like he had when she was little.

It took nearly an hour, but Sakura had eventually calmed down enough for Fujitaka to talk to her about the letter. “ _They extended the reply date until next week, so you don’t have to decide right now…_ ”

Sakura shivered once again from the large emotional outburst and all of the hormones it shot through her body that had yet to fully wear off. She didn’t know if she wanted to go to this school or not. And she was too tired to try to think about it. She gave a nod to show that she heard her father, and he got up and left her with the letter that could change her life forever.

* * *

Sakura rubbed the sleep from her eyes; it was morning, or rather, closer to noon by where the shadows on the floor were… Why had they left her to sleep in so late? Why did she feel so awful? But a moment of pondering on the fact reminded her of the call the day before and the letter that still lay on her bed that her father had brought up later. “ _If he can push me aside so easily,_ ” she told herself determinedly, “ _then he can’t be as wonderful as I thought! I will get over him, and I will be happy again! Just like with Yuki, he must just not be my real number one!_ ”

With that new discovery, she pulled off her old clothes changed into new ones and put on a smile. “ _Yes, destiny says we were only made to be friends! I will not be mad, or upset, I will move on and find my real number one!_ ” picking up the letter written in green ink, and putting the black teddy bear on the shelf with her other stuffed toys, she turned and skipped out of the room.

“ _Mistress,_ ” was the first sound that greeted her. She blinked at Yue who got to his feet from across the hall. 

“Ohayou, Yue…” she said a little confused.

“ _Orders, Mistress?_ ” he asked, kneeling before her.

“ _Hoe…? ‘Orders’? What?_ ”

“ _Mistress is upset. How can I serve you?_ ” 

“ _Yue, have you been sitting there all night? You really shouldn’t worry yourself over me like that, I’m fine._ ”

“ _I was made to ensure the safety and comfort of the barer of the Cards…_ ” he recited as if it were a script he was made to memorize, his silver eyes reflecting some of the confusion that his eggshell face refused to be marred with.

“ _Oh, Yue, for the last time, I don’t want you to be my servant, I want you to be my friend…_ ” The confusion tinged concern did not clear from the Moon Guardian’s eyes, and so Sakura sighed and took his long delicate fingers between her own. “ _Come on, come down with me while I eat and I will talk with you and Kero-chan about this letter I got yesterday, alright?_ ”

“ _If that is what you wish, Mistress…_ ” he said, rising to his feet as she lead him away with a shake of her head in defeat.

* * *

“ **Somebody’s in trouble…** ” sang a female voice by the door.

Without even opening his eyes, Xiao Lang spoke to the blackness of the meditation room. “ **Well, you will be if you don’t go away and leave me alone…** ” he growled.

“ **Don’t make me laugh. You’re good for your age, I’ll admit, but you’ve got a long ways to go before you can over-power me, cub,** ” the voice taunted.

“ **Oh, just go away, Fudie,** ” Xiao Lang growled, throwing a scroll halfheartedly at her.

With a casual wave of her wrist, Fudie, oldest of the five Li children, halted the burning paper against a shield and watched it smoulder away into ashes in mid air. It illuminated her shoulder-length roan red hair and her deep cobalt eyes. “ **If that’s the best you can do, then no wonder you failed to bring back the Clow Cards, now hurry to the Council Room. Mu qin does not like to be kept waiting,** ” she jibed at him, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall to wait. 

“ **M-Mu qin?** ” Xiao Lang stiffened at the very mention of her. Deciding it would be stupid to remain sitting where he was when his mother wanted him on nearly the other end of the large mansion, he sheathed his sword and ran out of the room. As he cleared the last corner and before he stepped through the doors, Xiao Lang paused to compose himself.

He entered the room with his head held high and his panting controlled, to find the clan's leader sitting alone in the room. Noting to himself that this was apparently to be a private audience with his Clan Head, Xiao Lang walked within ten paces and bowed low to the woman who looked down at him more coldly than usual. “ **I am sorry to keep you waiting, Mu qin, Fudie would not say what she was sent for,** ” Xiao Lang informed, shunting some of the blame for his tardiness on to his sister.

She studied her son for a moment, knowing that he would not straiten until she acknowledged him. “ **Then you are not aware that the Li Clan’s new Guardians have hatched?** ”

The young heir stood slowly and nervously. Her voice was short and crisp, not one that would belong to a proud or impressed individual, and he felt a wave of dread wash over him as he straitened and looked her in the eye. “ **Mou…(1)** ” he said nervously, “ **I hadn’t…** ”

“ **There were… apparently some complications with them…** ” her voice sounded disappointed.

_Shit,_ his mind supplied all on it's own. The last thing he needed after the abysmal failure with the capturing of the Clow Cards was 'complications' surrounding that which was to be his saving grace. “ **‘Complications’? L-like what?** ”

Yelan looked at her son for a moment or two, before raising her voice to carry across the room. “ **You may come in now,** ” she informed whoever had been waiting beyond the doors. 

It was a door to the side room usually reserved for council members to hold discussions on topics before coming to decisions that opened. Xiao Lang found himself holding his breath to see what sort of abnormality would be ushered in.

The first to enter was a large feline with magenta fur and translucent wings in four sets that continually changed colour as if they were oil playing over the surface of water. It appeared to be a butchered mix of a lynx and a puma with its tuff-tipped ears and long swooping tail and black rimmed mouth. While it didn't look anything like he had expected, something in Xiao Lang knew at once who this beast was.

Its blue eyes sparkled up at Xiao Lang as it opened its mouth and he heard the voice he knew he would come to know well, for the very first time. “ **Meet you nicely, Messy-Hair Big-Thing!** ”

Xiao Lang felt a lurch in his stomach area. The young, nondescript voice, spoke baby talk! Badly grammared baby talk at that! This was the last thing he needed, he was trying to make a good impression on the Elders, and he screwed up the spell that had been sent with the coffins enough to make a Guardian who talked BABY TALK!! Now, everything that his mother had said so far made perfect sense. The looks, the disappointment in her voice, everything. He was ruined…

The other figure to walk into the room made Xiao Lang feel physically sick with dread. It was only a toddler! It looked distinctly female with short hair the colour of yellow used in baby things held up in a ponytail atop its head, and powerful looking eyes, like fire burning behind amber. It took in the whole room as it moved cautiously with tender footfalls. It was dressed in yellow with golden trim and red jewels. Its clothing was reminiscent of battle costumes that Tomoyo had made for Sakura to mach him, yet she never wore. It seemed to calculate him for a moment before bowing politely. “ **It is an honour to meet you, Young Master Li.** ”

Xiao Lang blinked. It seemed that somehow all the intelligence of the pair of guardians was put into this little pointy-eared pixy-girl. She reminded Xiao Lang forcibly of both Yue and Spinel Sun with her calm collectedness. Yelan halted any further speculation on his behalf, though, by speaking up again, addressing the main issue. “ **These are the Li Clan's new Guardians. I believe that you have already appointed names for them?** ”

“ **Yes, the spell said to. They're Chandra,** ” Xiao Lang informed, gesturing to the large beastly Moon Guardian, “ **and Tai Yang,** ” he indicated the small Sun Guardian. 

“ **You charged them, you cast the spell to finish their creation, they are supremely yours, though their personalities are questionable.** ”

“ **I-I followed the spell, Mother, I--** ”

“ **Don’t give me excuses!** ” Yelan snapped, effectively clamping Xiao Lang's mouth shut. Behind him, the Guardians charged their magic, ready to defend the one they instinctively knew to be Master should they need to. Yelan barely spared them a glance as she continued on her verbal barrage of her son as if the display were not happening at all. “ **You are the heir, such mistakes should not have happened!** ” Then, taking a deep calming breath, her voice softened. “ **It should not have happened, but now that it has, what are you going to tell the Elders?** ”

“ **I-I don’t know…** ” 

“ **A poor answer, my son, now think! The Elders arrive in three hours to see the new Guardians; they expect creations of pride and power! How will you explain a mindless fur ball and an overly intelligent baby?** ” Yelan demanded.

It happened so oddly, he could feel his irritation rising as his mother insulted the Guardians who he though little more of himself, but he spoke in defence of them without even knowing that he opened his mouth. “ **Don’t say that about them!** ” He yelled at the woman who he respected more than any other. 

Her black eyes widened in shock at being addressed in such a manner. “ **What did you just say to me?** ” Xiao Lang’s hands jumped to his mouth in shock. Never in his life had he yelled at his mother, he had never dared! Her eyes thinned at him and for a long moment he could see the internal struggle warring within her between proud and powerful clan leader and the need to ensure Xiao Lang's own development into a leader of his own right. As she spoke again, voice cold and promising pain. “ **I am not sure what you learned while you were in Japan, Xiao Lang, but I will not take being spoken to like that from anyone lower than me!** ”

“ **I’m sorry, mother; I don’t know what came over me! I won’t do it again, I promise!** ” he pleaded, dropping to his knees to beg forgiveness of her.

“ **Get up. You are a God, my son, and you bow to no one,** ” she growled, obviously displeased with having to let him off. “ **There are more pressing matters to attend to, anyways. What are you to tell the Council of Elders? They are expecting greatness to rival Clow Reed! They are expecting--** ”

“ **I’m not Clow Reed, I am Li Xiao Lang…** ” the young heir muttered in distaste.

“ **Pardon me…?** ”

“ **My name is Li Xiao Lang, I am to lead this Clan before the year is up, and it is high time that this Clan steps out of Clow Reed’s shadow. I have met Yue and Cerberus, they are** **far** **from perfect themselves, so what does it matter that my Guardians aren’t either? He didn’t make his before he was over a hundred, I made mine at the age of eleven, one would say that that has something to do with my skill in comparison to his.** ”

Yelan then did something that Xiao Lang far from expected. She smiled at him. It was a mischievous yet proud smile, one that she had never let him see cross her features before this moment. “ **Yes, my son, I dare say that it does…** ” she said in a soft voice that he would almost call loving if it hadn’t come from her. “ **Dismissed,** ” she said, back to her usual bark of orders. He bowed to her and left the room, his Guardians in toe.

Xiao Lang finally came to sit on the front steps of the mansion, letting Tai Yang sit beside him and Chandra to come and lay  on the landing above. “ **What… just happened?** ”

“ **What does Master mean by the question? An insufficient amount of data to supply an accurate answer. Rephrase the question, please?** ”

Xiao Lang looked down at Tai Yang blankly for a moment, before finally figuring out what she was saying. “ **No, no, I was just talking to myself, I wasn’t asking you anything…** ”

Suddenly Xiao Lang felt something wet on the back of his neck run up to the top of his messy hair. When he turned around, he got a scratchy tongue slide across his cheek. “ **Master all busy-head, Chandra make better!** ” she said, and continued to lick Xiao Lang.

“ **Did Clow Reed ever go through anything like this?** ” complained Xiao Lang as he pulled his knees up under his chin.

* * *

(1) – According to the online dictionary I found, this is Cantonese for “no”.

* * *

“ _So, you may be going to a boarding school?_ ” Rika asked, eyes fuzzed out so that she wasn’t really seeing what she was looking at. 

“ _Yeah, maybe…_ ” was Sakura’s gloomy reply. 

“ _We’re going to miss you…_ ” Naoko said, “ _if… if you do decide to go…_ ”

“ _Oh, I’m going to miss all of you as well!_ ” whimpered Sakura, getting up and throwing her arms around the necks of Naoko and Chiharu, who were sitting in front of her. Tomoyo and Rika quickly stood and joined the tearful group hug, while Yamazaki looked on. 

They were sitting at a parlour where Sakura had requested they gather. Tomoyo already knew the contents of the letter, but Sakura had insisted on telling her other friends right away, sans magical details of course. So she had gathered the three girls to share the important news, and Yamazaki had followed his girlfriend because Sakura had said it was alright for him to come as well.

“ _You know… the thing about boarding schools is--_ ” he began.

But Chiharu put a hand over his mouth. “ _Not now, Takashi!_ ” she scolded.

He pulled her hand away and said, somewhat indignantly, “ _I was only going to say: the thing about boarding schools is that even if they are far away, you still have telephones, and e-mail, and letters, and such!_ ”

The conversation with Xiao Lang popped into Sakura’s head. She had suggested to him the same three things, and he had told her to just forget he existed. She choked back a sob and forced a smile at them. “ _Yes, we will stay friends. Forever._ ”

“ _Hey, let’s take one last walk around town, just for old times’ sake. This may be the last time we’re all together like this, for a very long time,_ ” Tomoyo said, sadly.

A volley of agreements came, and they all began to walk. But Sakura’s mind was plagued.  _This is the spot where Syaoran-kun hugged me… and that over there is where Syaoran-kun told me he was leaving… and that there is where Syaoran-kun…_ the thoughts came and came and came. How, in the course of one year, had a boy that wasn’t even her number one love affected her world so much? How was it that she couldn’t even look at the street without remembering at least one thing that Xiao Lang had done or said there…

“ _Everyone…_ ” she began unsurely. “ _Everyone, I have to go… I can’t stay here, I have to get away from all these painful memories. Maybe I won’t stay for the full seven years, but I have to get away, if only for now._ ”

Sad eyes looked on at the broken angel, and one by one they came and embraced her with promises that they understood and confessions renewed of missing her and loving her. Even Yamazaki gave her a hug, though they had never been as close as the girls had.

They began walking again, and as they did, Sakura passed herself from hand to hand, talking to each in turn. “ _I’m going to be waiting for you to write me that book of yours,_ ” Sakura said, as she came up and gave Naoko’s hand a squeeze. 

“ _Even though they’re ghost stories? I thought you didn’t like those…_ ” Naoko said, confused.

“ _I-it doesn’t matter. You’re my friend, I want to read them!_ ” Sakura told her.

“ _Really? You mean it?_ ” Naoko asked, eyes lighting up.

“ _Of course. I’ll be expecting at least one chapter a month!_ ” Sakura informed her. To this she got a hug, Naoko really was so insecure about her works that any insurance on a reader was an honour.

Sakura then passed herself to Rika. “ _I’m not going to be all alone, Yuki is coming with me. He’s going to be my translator in England,_ ” she announced.

“ _Isn’t he the one that’s always eating?_ ” Rika asked, running the name quickly through her head to match it with a face.

“ _Yes, though I wish I was as good a cook as you are, I’ll have to spend all my allowances just to buy him food to repay him!_ ” Sakura said, covering her cheeks. “ _Would you… would you send me recipes on how to cook better? Then, over Christmas break, I can make you all a big dinner and show you all that I’ve learned!_ ”

“ _I’ll look forward to tasting all the delicious foods that Sakura-chan makes!_ ” Rika assured.

Then Sakura went to Tomoyo. “ _I think I’ll miss you the most of all my friends, because we are the closest. You’re like… the big sister I never had… just… younger._ ”

“ _I’m really going to miss you, too. I love you so much,_ ” Tomoyo replied, turning her head to hide the tears.

“ _I love you too… Will you make clothes for me to wear on the weekends and nights?_ ”

“ _Of course! And I’ll video tape everything, so you don’t miss anything! And will you take pictures of the clothes, and of England, and everything so that I can see what my cute Sakura-chan sees?_ ” Tomoyo replied.

“ _Yes, I’ll send you all pictures of everything, so you’ll never miss out on any of my life!_ ” They gave each other hugs, and Sakura walked on to Chiharu. 

“ _It will be a little lonely not having your bright sunny smile with us on shopping trips any more,_ ” Chiharu admitted.

Sakura gave a sigh, “ _I know, it's just... I need time to get over him and what he said..._ ”

“ _That guy you like? Did he really reject you?_ ” Chiharu asked concerned.

“ _No... not really... I made him a bear but I never got around to telling him how I feel. Still, he said I should forget him because he wouldn't be able to come back and see me for a very long time._ ”

“ _Poor Sakura-chan..._ ”

“ _I know that for him to say such a thing, he must not feel the same way about me, but I..._ ”

“ _But you really do love him, don't you? So, you can't just forget about him like that,_ ” Chiharu finished for her, a sad and understanding smile gracing the pigtailed girl's lips.

“ _He really is... my number one person..._ ” Sakura admitted, tears flowing from her eyes once more, despite her promise to herself to get over him. 

Yamazaki took this moment to step up to his girlfriend and her tearful companion. Gently placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, he spoke, “ _You know, in Canada when you’re away from your loved ones, you set your watch to keep it on their time zone, and at noon, you clap twice while you think of them. It helps to keep them all together there, even though the place is so big._ ”

“ _Really?_ ” Sakura asked in her gullible way, “ _That’s so nice…_ ”

“ _Will you clap your hands for us?_ ” Yamazaki asked her.

“ _Yes. And will you clap your hands for me?_ ” Sakura asked back.

“ _Definitely! Without a doubt, we will!_ ” Chiharu said, giving Sakura a hug.

“ _And we will clap for Syaoran-kun and Eriol-kun, too, because no matter what, we never will forget our friends, right?_ ” Sakura asked, looking at each of them.

“ _Always!_ ” agreed Rika.

“ _Hey, let’s go get some ice cream!_ ” Naoko said, dragging Sakura off with her. Rika and Tomoyo were soon at their sides.

Chiharu took a hold of Yamazaki’s hand. He smiled at her, “ _For once you didn’t hit me,_ ” he said happily.

“ _That was a nice lie you told, it really helped Sakura-chan. I won’t hit you for something so sweet,_ ” she told him.

“ _Would you clap for me, if I went away?_ ”

“ _Every day._ ”

* * *

She looked on as he stood there, alone, in the middle of the field. He always seemed to be alone. The wind tore at his hair and clothing, causing him to stand at a weird angle that wasn’t quite considered upright. Her hair whipped up and danced in knots and her long dress billowed as she approached him. “ **You di(1)!** ” she called, louder than normal, to get her voice above the torrent.

He turned at once and looked at her, taking a moment before he let himself smile. “ **Jie jie(2),** ” he acknowledged, “ **what are you doing out here?** ”

“ **Looking for you,** ” she told him as his concentration let out and the winds died down to a passive breeze. “ **I heard from Fudie that there were some difficulties with the Guardians. Do you want to talk about it?** ”

“ **Hoe? What did she tell you?** ” Xiao Lang asked, sinking at once into a sitting position at her feet.

“ **Ho… e…? I don’t think I know that word…** ” Xiefa admitted. “ **What does it mean?** ”

Xiao Lang started. “ **I-I said that?** ” he asked. At the second Li child’s nod, Xiao Lang flopped back. “ **It doesn’t mean anything, it’s just something that I picked up while in Japan. Just an expression.** ”

Xiefa blinked down at the moody eleven-year-old, then smiled and sat down herself. “ **So, what’s her name?** ” she asked conversationally, as if it were a comment on the weather.

“ **Wh-what?! H-how did you know about her?!** ” Xiao Lang demanded, sitting upright and as red as the eyes that stared at him.

Wide, shocked eyes, for that matter. “ **Whoa… I-I only meant it to be a joke…** ” then, she brought her hands up under her chin and smiled dreamily. “ **My little brother has had his first crush! How cute!!** ” She then turned her eyes on him, hungry, “ **so, what’s she like? What’s your type?** ”

Having realized his blunder far, far too late to change it, he just thanked the moon that it was Xiefa and not Feimei or one of the others that had found out. With Xiefa, it was okay to just blush and tell her he’d rather not talk about it, and though she would far from stop pestering him, she would at least take the hint that this wasn’t something he wished shared with the rest of the family, or worse, the Clan.

As he stuttered out his insistence to be left alone, Xiefa’s mind floated along how wonderful it was that he had gotten a crush. How cute it would have been to watch him fall in love, and how sad it was that she had missed it. She looked at him, trying to remember that he wasn’t the little kid that she had read stories to when they were both so much younger. “ **According to Clan Law, you’re almost a man… this Solstice… you will not be the baby of the family anymore, you will be the head, the leader…** ”

“ **I-I might not…** ” he started.

“ **You will, I know you will. It’s what you were born for, raised for. It is your destiny to run the Clan…** ” She told him, then pulled him to her and kissed his forehead. Pulling out a brush from her ever-present purse, she began to pull it through his hair like she had done to put him to sleep when he was a toddler. “ **But you’re going away, to become the best China--no, the world--has ever seen. I’m going to miss you, you only just got back to us, but you’re leaving again so soon… and for seven years… you’ll be a man when you come back from your training, by every sense. I’ll hardly even know you when I see you again.** ”

“ **I will miss you, too. Home, the people, the energies… Jie jie, take me to sit under the Zēng Zŭ Fù Chún(3)? Tell me the story, one last time? Because… even if I do come back, even for winter break, I wouldn’t be a boy anymore! I wouldn’t be allowed to lie in your lap and listen to stories!** ”

“ **Alright,** ” She took his hand and walked with him to an old oak tree, nearly large enough to fit a suburban house within. They found themselves an obviously favourite sitting spot, warn out from years of use, and as Xiefa leaned back and started to talk, Xiao Lang made himself comfortable in her lap. “ **Zēng Zŭ Fù Chún is the oldest tree in all of China. It has resided on the family land for longer than the Clan’s history goes back. In fact, there have been many who have said that the Li Clan chose this spot because of the presence of the old oak making it holy.**

“ **The legend that was handed down through the locals, and the family, says that long ago, when the world was still young, the Zēng Zŭ Fù Chún was planted by a tree cutter’s son named Suilong—who Fu qin(4) named you after—from a cutting of the original tree of life. Suilong was said to train under the branches, gaining him the wisdom of Nü-gua(5), and became a great warrior who protected these lands from opposing forces.**

“ **Fu qin loved those stories, loved this tree. I know that you don’t remember him, you were hardly more than a baby, after all, when he died, but I know that he still sits within the branches of the Zēng Zŭ Fù Chún. While we’re under here, he can see us, and I know that he is very, very proud of his son.** ”

“ **I wish… that Fu qin was still alive. I-I don’t think I’m ready to lead. What if I do something wrong? What if I’m no good, and the Clan suffers because of it? I… I can’t be the leader that Mu qin is… I’m not ready for this, I’m not strong enough, I’m not wise enough…** ” Xiao Lang rambled all of his fears.

Xiefa brushed the hair out of his eyes and smiled at him. “ **It’s okay, you’ll have Mu qin to guide you, and the Elders, not to mention us… Even if you are in England, we can still write to each other. Wizards do have a mail system, after all.** ”

“ **Yeah…** ”

“ **So you can talk to us, and your little girlfriend in Japan…** ”

“ **Wh-what? No, she’s not my girlfriend! Besides, I’ll be gone for seven years, even if she did love me enough to be my girlfriend, how could I ever ask her to wait that long? It would be cruel to her. I can’t do it.** ”

“… **You… really are in love with her, aren’t you?** ” Xiefa’s eyes looked on to her brooding brother with pained, tear-filled eyes.

“ **Huh?!… I… um… … … yes…** ”

Xiefa swept Xiao Lang into a hug, “ **Oh, my baby brother… my poor, poor baby brother…** ”

“ **It’s not like it’d ever turn out, anyway, the Elders will arrange my marriage for as soon as they can manage to,** ” he reminded her gloomily.

“ **Well, you know I still want to hear all about her, I want to know who managed to steal my You di’s steel-plated heart.** ”

“ **You di! There you are! Mu qin wants you, she said the Elders are here…** ” Feimei called as she ran up to her two siblings. 

“ **We’ll continue this conversation when I take you to London to get your school supplies!** ” announced Xiefa as she pushed Xiao Lang to his feet and he set of running. 

Having nothing better to do, Feimei walked over and helped pull Xiefa to her feet. “ **What conversation? What were you talking about?** ” asked the long haired girl.

“ **Oh, nothing much, just stuff…** ” was Xiefa’s vague reply as the two sisters wandered back to the house.

* * *

(1) – Little Brother, formal

(2) – Older Sister, informal

(3) – paternal great grandfather tree of heaven

(4) – father, formal

(5) – the Black Turtle, direction of south, and goddess of the earth, the maker of humans

* * *

Well, there you have it, several decisions made, several emotional moments, an introduction to two new characters, and a little depth put into several characters that usually are ignored personality-wise. This has been an attempt to show the differences in the way Sakura and Xiao Lang were raised, and how that has affected their over-all mind set in life.

This chapter, like the one before it, underwent very minimal alteration. The biggest change that you may notice is the names applied to various characters. While I will be going into deeper level of explanation for it in Xiao Lang's side story (which will be published in the prequel Birth of the Deck Master and will detail Xiao Lang's summer at home, his retrieving the Guardian Eggs, and the process of their creation) I have chosen to use the Chinese pronunciation of all the Li family names rather than the Japanese approximation of them. I got these pronunciations off of the CCS wiki page, but I am assuming they are correct. For those characters that had multiple alternate approximations of their names, I chose the one that closest matched the one used in Japanese as that is obviously the one the series creators intended the characters to have.

For the upcoming chapter, as promised when it first came out, I have split it into two chapters: 3A and 3B. 3A focuses only on the events taking place in China regarding the Elder's reactions to the new Guardians and Xiao Lang's getting ready to go to England. 3B likewise focuses on the events of Sakura's life as she gets ready for her own trip.

Shade and Sweet Water!


	5. Chapter 3A: Chinese Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xiao Lang knows the fate of his whole future rides on him managing to impress the Clan Elders before the coming solstice. Pride, duty, honour... after the abysmal failure that was his card capturing expedition, what will become of his trial at making a new set of Guardian Beasts?

Before I get into this chapter I would just like to take a moment to reflect and say how truly touched I am that though I was without internet for over a year, and therefore unable to update my story, I continued to receive reviews. One of the greatest honours a writer can receive is to have their work appreciated and read, even in their absence. And so, to everyone that took the time to read my works and hopefully to just as many who enjoyed them, I dedicate this chapter to you.  
Yours Faithfully,  
Key of the Game

* * *

Xiefa passed worriedly before the door, chewing her thumbnail as was a nervous habit she had never managed to break. They would have been gone by now if it hadn't been for the Guardians her brother had received as gifts from the great Clow Reed hatching. Such an honour, the first Guardians to be received by any family in nearly a thousand years, and from the great Clow Reed at that, they were sure to be more impressive than the average Guardians.

They had arrived over a month ago, not long after her little brother had returned from his prolonged stay in Japan. Along with the base eggs had come sarcophagi and step-by-step instructions on how to finish their incubation so that they could hatch. Everyone had been so very sure that this would greatly improve his standing with the Elders, even beyond where he stood before he had left to gather the Clow Cards, and would very well erase his failure from their minds.

But Fudie, the only one besides Xiao Lang and their mother to have seen the new Guardians, said that there had been some sort of mistake in the spell or something. She would not specify—it was not hers to say—but the idea that anything could have been amiss with them was enough to send Xiefa into a panic. Xiefa had once been described by an American Shaman to be like a mother bear, and after Xiefa had examined what a bear's behaviour was, she had to agree. And right now, the bear inside of her was fretting over her missing cub.

Feimei, who was on her way to see if anyone else wanted to go catch a movie, spotted Xiefa pacing and approached. " **You're biting your nail... What's the matter?** "

Xiefa turned sharply but relaxed when she spotted who it was. With a sigh that did little to relieve her, Xiefa confided in her youngest sister, " **Xiao Lang is in there with the Elders right now. They're examining the new Guardians...** "

" **Really?** " Feimei asked, coming up and placing her ear against the door. Xiefa looked on in horrified wonder that anyone would have the gall to eavesdrop on the Elders. But as she stood, ever so curious and ever so nervous, Feimei began to describe what she was hearing in a whisper. " **Mu qin is talking now. They must be just beginning...** "

Xiefa looked around guiltily before stepping up and placing her own ear against the door as well. She told herself that it was to stop Feimei from talking so that they wouldn't get caught, but she knew that she was just overly curious herself.

* * *

Xiao Lang stood with his head bowed before the members of the Li Clan’s Council of Elders. Sour old faces of men and women stared down at him with harsh eyes. They were the best of the best in there day, now they had the honour of deciding the fate of the Clan. If Xiao Lang could not impress the Council of Elders before Solstice, he would be denied the ability to lead his Clan.

Only problem was that they were not a very easy group to impress.

Beside Xiao Lang stood Yelan, speaking proudly, for the Warlord never lowered her head to any. " **Ladies and Gentlemen of the Council of Elders, you have been summoned today to examine my son’s newest feat. At the age of eleven, a full one-hundred-and-twenty-nine years younger than Clow Reed, he has succeeded in creating Guardians!** "

At their mention, the two guardians obediently stepped forward. They had previously been instructed very strictly not to make a sound unless asked a direct question from one of the Elders, and Xiao Lang had to fight the sick feeling he was getting at the thought of the Elders questioning Chandra. He would have to work very hard with her in the near future to correct her speech patterns as best as he could. Though going to Hogwarts would, indeed, make things more difficult. Though he knew little of the wizard's culture, he did understand enough to know that they were not used to animals that talked human languages.

" **Though they are still not yet even a full day old and require much training, I feel confident that given time they will do this Clan proud as symbols of power and prestige!** "

Though the eyes of the elders were bearing down upon them, burning into the nervous boy's bowed neck like sunlight through magnifying glass, his mother--last of the great War Lords of ancient times--spoke with no greater concern then she did when she was addressing one of her own children. Intimidated as he was, Xiao Lang swallowed the lump in his throat and straitened his posture.

Though he didn't lift his gaze from the floor, his determined change in stance caught everyone's eye, he was sure. Indeed, his mother stopped speaking, and even took a step back behind him, leaving him front and centre to continue talking to the Elders in her place.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself and praying to every god and deity he could think of, so not to make a fool of himself, Xiao Lang took a shaky step forward. " **M-most honourable of Elders,** " he began, " **how long has it been since... since Clow Reed left us?** "

There was an almost annoyed shifting among his audience; he even heard one whisper to a neighbour that they didn't have time to give a child a history lesson.

Xiao Lang swallowed hard again, and then answered his own question as he continued. " **It has been centuries since he stood as a member of our mighty Clan, and yet even today we cling to his shadow, unwilling--though not unable--to move beyond him.** "

There was a general murmur of consent at what the young heir said, and many sounds were made to indicate that he should continue.

" **As you probably already know, I leave for England before the afternoon is up. The unexpected hatching of the new Guardians is my only reason for delay. But I do not go to follow in the footsteps of Clow Reed; I go instead to gain knowledge and power for the betterment of my people.**

" **And though I am the heir, I am not the only one who betters this Clan. Each and every one of you were chosen to sit on this fine council for the great deeds you accomplished in your youth and the wisdom those experiences granted you help you in the shaping of our great era.**

" **Though some of you may see these Guardians as a test, and therefore a 'pass' or a 'fail', I ask you to please, look at it instead as yet another experience, and hopefully far from the last, that will one day help me to better our people as a whole so we can step out from the shadow of Clow Reed and into the light of a greater and more prosperous future.** "

He looked up at each face as he finished his little speech, not really sure where in there he had raised his eyes to meet theirs, but noting that none looked displeased with him doing so. He wanted so desperately to turn and see if his mother looked on disapprovingly, but he also knew that that would appear too weak, to go running to his mother for reassurance. So he set his jaw and did not move or speak again until the council had ceased its internal whisperings.

One woman who sat to the far right leaned forward to speak in a raspy, high-pitched voice. " **You, humanoid, you are a Guardian under the symbol of the sun, are you not?** "

Tai Yang bowed as she replied, " **I am as you say, most honourable one.** "

" **You are rather small to be a Guardian's true form, are you not?** " the woman asked her once more.

" **To judge ones power by the stature of age and appearance is a fault in many. The most powerful of sorcerers can store the magic required to reshape the landscape in a crystal that would fit in a ring.** "

After a moment of murmuring at the response they were given, another elder chose to ask, " **Moon Guardian?** "

" **Yes?** "

" **What hidden knowledge did Clow Reed send within you?** "

" **Chandra is confused... Chandra doesn't know Clow Reed.** "

There was another flood of whispers, and a third elder stood to address the Guardians. " **Is Clow Reed not the one who made you?** "

Tai Yang and Chandra looked at each other for a second, before Chandra answered. " **No.** "

Tai Yang, too, answered, in a more elaborate manner. " **I believe you are mistaken, the one who made us is not Clow Reed; it is Li Xiao Lang. He is our Master and the one we answer to above all else.** "

" **You are bound to no one else? Not in the slightest?** "

" **No. Our loyalties lay only with the Master and his family. Thus is the existence of all Guardians,** " Tai Yang pointed out, as if minorly annoyed at having to state the obvious.

And yet again, the Elders turned in on themselves and spoke in hushed tones. Though this time they seemed intent on taking longer, debating among themselves until their voices began to raise, only to quiet themselves down and continue on once more. For five, ten nerve wreaking minutes, Xiao Lang stood and watched them. The Guardians were generally disinterested, it was not a Guardian’s job or place to concern themselves with such things, and so they remained alert enough on the conversation to know if they were being addressed or if an order was given, but as no sense of magic was coming from any of the humans in the room, beyond that the Guardians cared little for the events unfolding before them.

Yelan, for her small part, was watching her son, his new Guardians, and the Elders all with the calculating eye of a strategist. Measuring and weighing every action and reaction of each person in the room to enable herself to keep one step ahead and maintain her composure. For, as any leader would tell you, the most important part is ensuring that you seem to always be in control of the situation.

Finally one old man whose white beard flowed down past his knees and fingernails that curled back on themselves spoke. " **Very well, young lord. We, the Council of Elders for the Clan of Li, declare that the Guardians may bare the blessing and power of the Clan. We allow them to assume sealed form to the artifact: the Sword of the Elements.** "

And with that said, it was done. The Elders stood and filed out in no certain order until all that were left were Yelan, the two Guardians, and the petrified Xiao Lang. Yelan took a moment to smile knowingly at her youngest. It took nearly everything he had to speak up before the Council like that, and her pride in him for doing so was indeed abundant.

After letting herself have that one moment of parental pride, Yelan indicated her husband's heir with one of her rare compliments. " **You did well, my son. Very diplomatic. Though the flattery was a new tactic for you, I doubt it will work again as well next time because of it. Did you pick that up in Japan?** "

Xiao Lang swallowed for a third time that hour and turned to his mother, " **I guess...** " he replied. He didn't really know what else to say.

" **Well, you have Guardians to seal and a plane to catch. One mustn't dawdle around all day.** "

* * *

Xiefa and Feimei jumped quickly away from the door when they heard the Elders preparing to leave. The nervousness in the both of them about having just been listening in created enough of an anxious air that the Elders paid them no mind as the girls hurried to show homage when they walked past. It was only when their mother came forth that they had to strive to act normally, for she knew her children inside and out.

" **What was their answer, Mu qin?** " Xiefa pressed before Feimei had a chance to say anything to give them away.

Yelan gave them both a stern, almost reprimanding look, making it clear she was aware they weren't behaving normally. But all the same she spoke quietly in her usual brisk tone. " **Go and fetch your sisters so that you may all be introduced to the new Guardians at once.** "

Feimei bowed at once and hurried off down the hall, but Xiefa on the other hand, turned instead to the young heir. Jumping for joy, flung herself at once onto Xiao Lang and pulling him into a suffocating hug. " **Oh, You di! You did it!!** " she cheered, practically lifting him off his feet. He struggled in vain for a moment before managing to escape her grasp. He took a step away, straitened his clothes hottily, and then broke into one of his unusual grins that truly showed just how ecstatic he really was by all of this.

Xiefa didn't even bother glancing behind him at the Guardians who stood silently and watched until Yelan ushered her two children out of the room and closed the door. " **They are just ordinary Guardians...** " Xiao Lang admitted as they all stood and waited for Feimei to return with the other two. " **Nothing like what Yue and Cerberus are, but they will do fine for me. I'm just happy to have them.** "

" **You always were one to prefer the simpler things,** " Xiefa observed.

Standing silently, Yelan watched her children communicate, letting her eyes fill with pride, rather than just radiate how proud she was. It was a rare and special thing to stand and look at ones children and know that if one was to die that very second, they could continue on perfectly fine without you. And nothing in this world could make her happier then that knowledge. As she looked at her son, she knew that his sisters would fill her every roll for him until he no longer needed it. This Clan would be just fine in their hands.

* * *

Feimei found Fudie still standing outside of another of the doors that lead into the Council room. She was nearly dancing with joy and actually beamed at her sister. " **So, you were listing in too, huh?** "

Fudie blinked at this before nodding with a blush. " **He did it,** " was all she said.

" **Mu qin wants us,** " Feimei informed without any care.

" **Alright,** " Fudie acknowledged, nodding. They barely began to walk when Fudie spoke up " **He's turning out to be a cunning little bastard, though. We really need to get him away from Xiefa, or else she'll have him so well trained that he can talk even us into doing things!** "

" **You think? He's still got a long way to go for that I think.** "

" **I don't know...** " She pondered. " **He may be a runt and a little slow at times, but once he gets the concept of something, nothing stops him from achieving it.** "

Feimei rolled her eyes at that one, " **That's for sure. I remember when he first discovered football(1), it took him three weeks to learn it, and no one could give him any pointers, either. He just went off onto the sidelines on his own and practised until he was perfect.** "

Fudie responded with a confirming noise. " **It took him three weeks to learn to play, how long do you think it will really take him to master something that could affect the course of the Clan's welfare?** "

Feimei had to admit that she was right, " **But still, he never has been much of a thinker.** "

" **Kind of like you, huh?** " Fudie teased. To that she got a pout, but the response was dropped as Fanren just walked into view. " **Hey, Mie mie! Mu qin wants us!** "

" **Alright...** " Fanren replied, placing aside her manga and following her two other siblings back to where their mother awaited.

* * *

(1) Football; what North America calls soccer. As part of the rest of the world, Hong Kong refers to it by its original name.

* * *

Five youths stood before their mother with expectant eyes. Silent and patient, they bore only an air of anxiousness that they didn't dare vocalize. Finally Yelan turned to them, and each straitened slightly in an attempt to maintain the dignity that she demanded of them. Her eyes landed on each in turn, before she spoke to them as a whole. " **The Elders have acknowledged and accepted the existence of the new Guardians. I have gathered you here so you may meet them now.** "

As a uniform mass, the five youths bowed their respective appreciation at this. Yet as the doors were swung open, the three youngest daughters stretched their necks to get their first glimpse, as they had not had the privilege of meeting the Guardians beforehand.

Slowly, shyly, the first to enter the hall was Chandra, looking very much like a Guardian ought. Her large head was bowed slightly, and her huge feet making only a soft 'clack, clack' as her claws hit the tile floors. Her graceful beauty even made Xiao Lang forget for a moment about her defect. From the sisters, there were soft murmurs of awe and appreciation. Before it could get into anything more fangirly, however, the second Guardian exited. In the beginning, all anyone even saw of this one was a small fluff of yellow that made her ponytail. It was only once they laid eyes on the toddler-like form that the girls began to coo in earnest.

“ **Awa, she's so cute,** ” Fanren was the first to comment, hearts practically reverberating in her eyes.

Yelan repressed a sigh at the relaxed mental state of her youngest two daughters who weren't even able to contain their impulses to be drawn to the strong concentration of source magic. Not that she didn't understand, there was definitely something... intoxicating about being in the presence of one who radiated on the same wavelength as the sun, just as she was sure the same was true for lunar practitioners and the Moon Guardian.

However, to have one's emotions swayed so easily by something that had nothing to do with the goodness of the person was a very dangerous thing indeed. Her children, as direct decedents of Clow Reed and heirs or future brides to heirs of such powerful clans should not fall for such elementary forces as this. She knew her twins had never been trained as strictly as her eldest two, nor her son, but they ought to be better than this.

The Clan needed an image of composure and strength from its head family. In these troubling times when the magicless world provided so many distractions for youth, leading to many otherwise bright and promising individuals never living up to their full potential, the Li Clan had to hold strong to the old ways of honour and discipline to ensure their power was not lost completely. She knew it was difficult on them, denying them play and innocence, but she also knew that that was the cut-throat sort of world they lived in.

Sorcerers of power did not grow old and die naturally, at least not for a very long time. Her grandfather had lived many hundreds of years looking like a man in his early thirties, and Yelan herself had all but stopped ageing when she was in her early twenties. She knew if no one succeeded in killing her, that she could potentially live a two or three centuries before she finally grew old enough to die of natural causes. Just because the younger generation were letting themselves become sloppy and distractable did not mean that her children were safe doing the same. They would face the giants of the magical community sooner or later, and it was her job to make sure they were ready.

But even still, Yelan found herself turning a blind eye as her eldest two daughters joined the twins in smothering her son's new Guardians in affection after their initial act failed to illicit any form of scolding from her. She didn't understand why, it was rather out of character with who she had been since the death of her husband nearly ten years prior, but she let it go on a minute more all the same.

“ **That's enough,** ” she commanded her children when she felt they had been silly long enough. “ **Er zi, you were granted permission by the Council to conduct the sealing ceremony. You should hurry and finish so you can be on your way.** ”

“ **Mu qin is right, You di, England is very far away,** ” Xiefa agreed, sobering up from where she had been playing with Chandra's iridescent wings.

Without further ado, Xiao Lang lead his Guardians back to the channelling room, along with the entourage of his sisters and mother. The women of his family looked on with a mix of pride, eagerness, and curiosity to varying degrees as the young Li heir went through the motions described in the letter he had received from Clow Reed along with the eggs. Though, Xiao Lang was still rather sure that they were actually from Eriol rather than Clow himself.

After arranging everything as he was supposed to, Xiao Lang went to stand before the two patiently waiting figures and drew out his jian. “ **Unbound Guardians of Sun and Moon, I, Li Xiao Lang, call you to contract and bind you to this magical artifact, the Sword of the Elements.** ”

The swirl of magic was unmistakable and near instantaneous. It reminded Xiao Lang a little of the shape the Clow Cards had once taken when they were first being resealed by Sakura. That sort of half-formed swirling mist that was neither solid nor gaseous. The threads of mist were coming off, spreading loose from the main bodies and snaking their way over to latch on to the Sword of the Elements.

Xiao Lang began to speak again, “ **Guardians of Sun and Moon, Tai Yang and Chandra, under contract I command you, assume your sealed forms!** ” A wave of uncertainty hit the Clan heir and it took him a moment to realize it wasn't his own, and that the Guardians were not changing. He remembered the letter saying something about how their existences would fit his desire, seeing as he was their Master and all, and that everything about them was up to him.

But, something felt wrong about just forcing his will on them like that, he had met Cerberus and Yue and knew that they both possessed unique personalities and thoughts, so surely his Guardians would be the same? To deny them their own free choice was making them no better than objects or slaves, and he didn't want that. Sakura would hate him if he ever did something like that...

Chandra, at least, he had some idea of what she might look like in sealed form. Kero and Spinel had both looked similar to each other, and at some point it had just become that that was what a sealed beast Guardian should look like. No sooner had that confirmation fixated itself in his mind then the magenta beast wrapped itself in its wings like a cocoon and reformed into a small kitten-like shape.

The largest difference in her form was that her colour had changed. She was still an unnatural reddish shade that no real cat would be, but she was no longer a magenta. Instead she had shifted closer to an orange, and with her posture sitting on the ground like that with her long tail wrapped around her four paws she looked rather reminiscent of an overly bright kitten. Her little head was cocked to one side, cerulean eyes still eerily intent on Xiao Lang's form.

Tai Yang, however, remained waiting a sealed form. She was humanoid, and it just felt strange to him after knowing Yue and Ruby Moon that her sealed form be anything but a human disguise. However, there was the question of what she would look like. Nakuru was little more than Ruby Moon in human colours, her features and mannerisms all remained exactly the same. Yue on the other hand, looked almost nothing like Yukito, from his features to his hairstyle the only thing the two had in common was their height. So where in that spectrum should this little one fit?

He searched his mind for inspiration, getting only flashes of a desire at first. Or, maybe desire was too strong a word... a repulsion of the clingy girls who had squeezed at her and ruffled her mane, a longing to be close to Master, associated with him. He let her have her way, an image forming in his mind as it reshaped itself before his eyes. When the transformation was complete, she looked even more toddler-like than before. Her soft hair, still pulled into the ponytail, was only a few shades darker than his own hair and her eyes were thinner than his were at her age—accentuated further by her heavy eyelids—but the colour was almost an identical honey-over-amber to his own.

“ **She looks like our little sister,** ” Xiefa finally commented once the magic died back down, “ **or maybe daughter?** ”

Something about the statement caused Fanren to snicker, “ **Well, she kind of is, in a way...** ”

“ **Ugh, I'm too young to be an aunt,** ” Feimei complained, crossing her arms huffily.

“ **More that You di is a little young to be experiencing fatherhood, but still...** ” Xiefa paused to ponder something, “ **she looks so human, but the name Tai Yang definitely isn't one that a human would have.** ”

“ **Jie jie's right,** ” Feimei acknowledged. “ **She needs a new name. I think she looks like a Chan Feng!** ”

“ **Juan Lian,** ” Fudie offered.

“ **Hmmm... I'd say Jiao Yang would be a pretty name,** ” Fanren piped up. There was then a brief pause as everyone waited, then they all turned and looked at Xiefa. “ **Aren't you going to make any suggestions?** ”

“ **No, they're You di's Guardians, he should name them,** ” she responded casually.

Tai Yang, for her part, puffed up like a little blow fish and attached herself to Xiao Lang's side, “ **I am Master's Sun Guardian, Tai Yang!** ” she insisted stubbornly.

“ **Jiao Yang... that does sound kind of pretty...** ” Xiao Lang mumbled thoughtfully.

The little Sun Guardian looked up at him with a hurt sort of confusion in her eyes, “ **Does... Master... not want me anymore? It does not compute, please provide more input.** ”

“ **No, it's just... oh how to explain...** ” Xiao Lang pondered for a moment. “ **It's like Xiefa said, Tai Yang is a Guardian name, not a human one, and you're in a human form right now, so... Besides, all the other humanoid Guardians have taken human names for their sealed forms.** ”

“ **'All' the other humanoid Guardians?** ” Yelan questioned, eyeing her son suspiciously.

Xiao Lang paled at the realization of his slip-up and stuttered for an excuse, “ **I-I meant Yue and Yukito-san. They act so different from each other, it's hard to think of them as the same person. So, it's them as in both sides of him.** ”

It was clear by the looks on many of the faces looking at him that his attempt at covering up his slip of the tongue, but other than eyeing no body pushed it and Xiao Lang did not volunteer any further information either. Choosing to change subjects as subtly as he could manage instead, the young heir returned his attention to the small child-like form still attached at his side. “ **So... Jiao Yang it is, then?** ”

“ **If that is what would make Master happy...** ” the newly dubbed humanoid Sun Guardian replied, though she still looked a little uneasy about the designation.

“ **Woohooo! I named the Sun Guardian!** ” Fanren cheered, throwing her arms up in the air in victory.

“ **Yes, yes,** ” Xiefa appeased, “ **Now that that's over with, shall we get ready to go?** ”

* * *

" **You ready to go?** " Xiefa asked as she poked her head in to Xiao Lang's room.

" **I suppose,** " was his reply. He closed his suitcase and locked it and began to walk away, but stopped and returned for a pink winged teddy bear that had been left sitting by where his suitcase had just been.

Xiefa could not help but raise an eyebrow at her brother for even having such a thing, and when he caught sight of her look, he blushed and tossed it back on his bed. But he didn't even get to the door when he returned for it once again. He stood and held it, pondering something only he could know.

Finally Xiefa rolled her eyes " **It belonged to your little girlfriend, didn't it?** " she asked in a knowing tone. " **Come on, just put it in your bag and lets get out side before any of the others come looking for you and see it.** "

Having an outside source give confirmation to those actions, Xiao Lang put the bear in the suitcase quickly and followed his sister out to the front door. " **And she's not my girlfriend...** " he grumbled before they reached earshot of the others.

Xiefa gave him a look as if to say 'yeah, sure, whatever', but changed the subject as they were nearing the others. " **Are you not taking the Guardians with you?** "

" **No, mother thinks it would be for the best if they stayed here for this trip,** " Xiao Lang replied, happy to be on a less depressing subject then his failed love life. “ **Do... you really think it will be okay? Leaving them here, I mean...** ”

“ **Do you think you'll need their protection in London?** ” Xiefa asked.

“ **Well, no,** ” the youngest Li admitted, “ **it's just... they're... young. And they need me, and I--** ” he trailed off at his sister's curious stare. He knew the look, she was calculating him into her world view, and he knew that if she was giving him that look that meant he was displaying an unusual level of attachment to the two of them.

“ **I wonder if everyone with a Guardian is this attentive to them, or if You di is just being over-protective once again?** ” she mused aloud.

" **Ah, finally! Let's go!** " Feimei called as the missing two siblings walked up.

" **Remind me again why you're all coming?** " Xiao Lang complained, putting his hands on his hips.

" **Shopping trip, duh!** " Fanren pointed out as if he'd have to be stupid not to see it himself.

" **For me to go to school...** " he attempted to remind the lot of them.

" **Well, you're obviously going to need something to wear while you're there!** " Feimei pointed out.

" **And there's no saying that back to school stores are the only ones that we necessarily will go to. If we by mistake walk into one or two others instead...** " Fudie pointed out.

" **Uhg! You girls are going to bankrupt this family...** " Xiao Lang growled, putting his face in his hand. To this he got a general round of giggles, from Xiefa included, meaning that she had just as much of an intention to shop as the rest of them. " **We may as well be going; we don't want to be getting in too late.** "

Having a privet jet really was a convenience, Xiao Lang noted as he looked out the window. The limo ride had been an annoyance. Xiefa wouldn't stop smiling slyly at him, Fudie had been going through a catalogue of stores on her laptop, planning out routs they could take for shopping, while Fanren and Feimei squealed about all the cute English boys they might or might not meet. Now that they were on the jet at least, they were arguing amongst themselves on which in-flight movie they should watch first.

It would take hours to get to England, Xiao Lang knew, and as he watched the jet roll off the ground and up towards the clouds he couldn't help but wonder what Sakura was doing. He blushed slightly against his will at the thought of her, and cursed himself quietly for not being able to get her out of his head. It wasn't like he'd ever be able to see her again... He was zapped back to reality when he felt someone sit in the seat next to him.

Looking over, he didn't even bother hiding the groan at seeing Xiefa sitting there smiling at him. " **Well, now that they're all so nicely occupied, you owe me an explanation.** "

" **No, I don't,** " Xiao Lang replied.

" **Oh, come on, Xiao Lang! I promise I won't tell them about her, but at least get it off your chest with me!** " Xiefa prodded onward.

" **If I tell you, then will you leave me alone?!** " he growled out testily.

Xiefa made a crossing motion over her heart with a finger. " **I give you my word.** "

" **I don't see what the big deal is, it's not like I'd be able to be on dates with her or anything...** " Xiao Lang grumbled, trying to beat around the bush. " **The Clan wouldn't approve of her, and I'm going to England...** "

" **Wouldn't... why? She's not one of those without any power, is she?** " Xiefa asked, worriedly. If that was Xiao Lang's type...

" **No!** " he said, sounding properly offended that she would assume so. " **She-she just doesn't have a Clan...** "

" **Oh, one of those sorts, huh?** " Xiefa said, nodding to herself. " **So, how did you come across this nobody?** "

" **She's not really a nobody...** "

" **But... you said she didn't have a Clan!** "

" **I know I did, but she's still not a nobody,** " Xiao Lang pointed out.

" **Well,** " Xiefa started expectantly, " **then who is she?** "

" **She's the Mistress of the Cards,** " Xiao Lang stated pointedly, but he wasn't looking at Xiefa and was very red in the face.

" **Wh-what?!?** " The news took Xiefa so much by surprise that she slipped right from the seat and hit the floor with a thud. Quickly pulling herself back up to sitting next to her brother, she continued in urgent whispers of a gossiping girl. " **Are you crazy?! Do you have any idea how much face you lost because of that girl?!** "

" **Ugh! Don't remind me!** " Xiao Lang said, putting his hands over his ears and getting a look on his face like he was going to be sick.

" **Wait, why would a girl with no family be strong enough to be a Card Captor?** " Xiefa pondered.

" **Her father is the reincarnation of Clow Reed,** " Xiao Lang explained.

" **You're kidding!** " but all it took was one look at her brother's face to know that he wasn't. " **Whoa... Well, if she really is Clow Reed's daughter, then it makes sense that she would be the one to carry on in his place. Therefore, you didn't really lose face because she was the one they were best suited for,** " Xiefa tried to cheer him up.

"Humph," was his only reply.

" **...Well, also... if she marries into the Li Clan then we haven't really lost the cards...** " Xiefa pointed out.

" **Wh-what? Who would she be--** " Xiao Lang started jealously, then saw the look on his sister's face and understood. " **I-I couldn't-that is-we aren't-I haven't-I don't--** "

Xiefa giggled at how easily she managed to tease him about this crush of his and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. " **Awa! Xiao Lang is so cute!!** "

“ **Hey! Cut it out!** ” the young boy protested, struggling in his laughing sister's teasing grasp.

Xiefa let him fight his way out of her hold and waited until the other sister's customary glances at the commotion grew bored and returned to the film they had chosen. “ **So, what's Clow Reed like? I mean, to meet him in person, he must be amazing.** ”

Xiao Lang's initial response was to shrug, “ **I didn't really get a chance to meet Kinomoto-san. He seemed really nice the few times I talked to him, surprisingly enough given how Hiiragizawa turned out. But I got called back to Hong Kong only days after we found out about him being a reincarnation, so I didn't really get a chance to examine him or anything...** ”

“ **Kinomoto-san would be Clow Reed, I take it? Who's Hiiragizawa?** ”

Xiao Lang fidgeted nervously for a moment, “ **You gotta not tell... I don't think he wants the Clans knowing, and quite frankly I think we're better off without the likes of him.** ”

“ **Alright,** ” Xiefa agreed, “ **as long as it doesn't put the Clan in danger, I'll keep things to myself.** ”

“ **Okay,** ” Xiao Lang said, with a few deep breaths to steady his nerves and gather his thoughts, “ **so you know how I stayed longer in Japan because there was a strong, Clow-like presence that was messing with things?** ”

“ **Yeah,** ” Xiefa nodded.

“ **Well, that was because it was Clow Reed's presence. Or rather, his reincarnation's presence. It hadn't been danger, Hiiragizawa was just... testing Sakura, or training her, or something. At the end of the whole thing, he had Sakura split his magic between himself and Kinomoto-san, that's how we found out that Kinomoto-san was also a reincarnation of Clow Reed,** ” Xiao Lang explained, before crossing his arms over his chest and huffing like a small child. “ **It seems Kinomoto-san got all the goodness in Clow Reed, and Hiiragizawa got all the bastard!** ”

“ **Xiao Lang!** ” Xiefa exclaimed, aghast at her little brother's words towards one they had been raised to see as nearly a god.

“ **He deserves it!** ” was all the boy argued back with stubbornly.

Having not known the details behind her little brother's interactions with this reincarnation of Clow Reed, Xiefa bit her tongue doubtfully and chose to change the subject. “ **So what about the humanoid Guardians? You did use a plural reference to them earlier...** ”

Giving a sigh, Xiao Lang gave in. “ **Hiiragizawa made a pair of replacements for Yue and Cerberus. Their names are Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun, and Ruby Moon is in human form. Hiiragizawa is probably also the one who sent me the Guardian Eggs and instructions, which means that bastard is up to something else again. I'm sorry I lied earlier, but I couldn't talk about Ruby Moon without bringing up Hiiragizawa...** ”

“ **Xiao Lang, something as important as Clow Reed's reincarnations and new Guardians aren't something that should be kept from the Clan,** ” Xiefa scolded.

“ **Why? He's made it abundantly clear by hiding every trace of himself these last few decades that he doesn't want to be involved with Clan politics, and even before his death Clow Reed avoided Clan gatherings whenever he could manage! Just face it, he doesn't want us and quite frankly we're better off forgetting him and moving towards the future on our own!** ”

Displeased by the response, but unable to argue with incomplete knowledge, Xiefa dropped the subject and let silence fall between them.

* * *

It was late evening when the Li Clan's private jet set down on British asphalt. The five Li children filed out into the airport, images of regal grace and beauty that drew the eye despite the hectic atmosphere of the place.

" **So,** " Feimei began, " **where are we going to go?** "

" **A limo will be picking us up out front to take us to the Beaufort Hotel. We will go and find the stores tomorrow,** " Fudie stated, naturally taking the position of leader.

" **Well, I hope they have the penthouse ready for us, I wish to relax for the rest of the night,** " Xiefa stated, stretching and shifting to get out the kinks from sitting so long on the jet ride there.

" **As long as they have room enough for me to get a workout in before bed, I'll be happy,** " Xiao Lang stated, putting his hands behind his head in a bored sort of way.

" **Just don't cut up any of the furniture, this time...** "

" **I wonder how their stereo system is,** " Fanren pondered.

" **I want to go take a nice long soak in a hot bath,** " Feimei insisted.

As said, the limousine awaited the Li children out front. The ride to the hotel was largely uneventful, save for the whining and giggling that one often cannot avoid when putting four teenaged beauties together, especially when you leave them unsupervised. And though they failed to obtain the penthouse they had been hoping for, due to it being previously occupied, with little fussing and flashing of plastic they were soon settled in the next best thing.

As soon as the family set foot in the room, they were off in their own directions. Fanren had no trouble finding the CD player, Feimei instantly took off to examine the bath, Fudie spotted the magazines and made herself comfortable flipping through them, and Xiefa went to the phone to order up some food from room service. With a sigh, Xiao Lang dug into his pockets and pulled out a tip for the bellhop, before sending him away so that he could relax in peace. That idea was shot when Feimei gave a scream, though.

All four siblings rushed to see what was wrong, only to round the corner and find their sister examining the content of the salts box. Looking up to see the annoyed expressions of her family, she smiled at them bashfully before showing them her discovery. " **Look at all these fragrances! With my privet collection I could make a masterpiece of aromatherapy! Do you think they sell these around here?** "

Fudie smiled in an almost teasing way at her youngest sister. " **Oh probably,** " she agreed.

Xiefa came over and looked at the collection of salts and oils herself, " **Are you thinking of having some spa time?** "

"Hmm," Feimei acknowledged, nodding. " **Would you like to join me?** " she asked her sisters in general.

" **Alright,** " Fudie came in as well.

" **I could use a nice relaxing rest,** " Fanren acknowledged. She then turned to Xiao Lang, " **Can you go in my bag and put on one of the Zen CD's for me?** "

He didn't even get a chance to answer when the door was closed in his face. He gave a sigh and went to do her bidding, figuring he may as well get in some meditation before they came out and started being noisy again. He had barely put the CD in and settled down before there was a knock on the door and he had to get up again to see who was pestering him. The room service jumped slightly at the black look the boy was giving them. They had seen their fair share of spoiled brats and grumpy company, but something in this kid's golden eyes said that he had more than just an attitude; he had the power to do something with his attitude!

"What do you want?" he demanded.

The two hotel workers looked at each other insecurely, before shaking it off. This was just a kid, what the hell could he do? "Room service. You ordered a meal?"

Rolling his eyes, Xiao Lang stepped aside and let them in. He recalled Xiefa doing so before going to join the others in the bath. "How much do I owe you...?" he asked tiredly, digging into his pocket once more for his wallet.

"It will be billed with the room," one of the workers informed politely.

Xiao Lang nodded, showing that he understood, and shoved his wallet back where he had pulled it from as he stepped up to the bathroom door and knocked. " **Xiefa! Food's here!** "

" **Oh good! Have them bring it in!** " Fanren called back.

" **Yes! We're starving!** " Xiefa insisted.

" **And can they send someone to wash our backs?** " whined Fudie.

Rolling his eyes, Xiao Lang turned to the two who brought the food. "They want it in there," he said, indicating the bathroom.

"They?" one of them asked nervously.

"Yeah, and they also want someone to be sent up to wash their backs," Xiao Lang confirmed, walking away and going back to meditating.

Insecurely, the people from room service did as they were told. Opening the door slowly, they entered to find the four sisters sitting around the bath as if it were a hot tub. Each was wrapped in a towel, and their fine silk dresses lay folded on the sink counter. "Well, hurry up!" Fudie insisted impatiently.

"And when will someone come to scrub our backs?" fumed Feimei.

"You can leave the pudding out for Xiao Lang. But I want the cherries over by me!" Xiefa insisted.

The two workers eyed each other. No wonder that boy had been scowling. These girls were spoiled rotten! Not sure if they'd get fired for not obeying, seeing as these children had one of the most expensive suites there, they went ahead and placed the food out to the girl's request. On their way out they saw the boy sitting in the middle of a rolled out rug that had a fancy circular design. He opened an eye and watched them as they left but made no other move to acknowledge them.

The door closed behind them, and Xiao Lang once more closed his eye and returned to a state of meditation. With in the bathroom, the girls sat and picked at the finger foods supplied for them. " **You know,** " Fanren stated in a drawn out ho-hummish sort of way, " **even if You di does make it as the new Clan head, Mu qin will most likely stay on as figure-head.** "

" **We'll all be given advisory positions until he's really ready to lead on his own,** " Xiefa pointed out. " **It won’t just be Mu qin.** "

" **But Xiao Lang is still so obedient to her, will anything even change?** " Fudie pointed out.

" **I don't think Mu qin would push her authority on him once his leadership is made official. She does right now because she's the Clan leader, but she treats us the same way,** " Feimei observed.

" **She pushes him ten times harder than she does us...** " Fanren stated. " **She lets us get away with almost anything.** "

" **She treats him like she treated me before he was born,** " Fudie pointed out. " **Hard and cold as ice to toughen him up so he can deal with the pressures of leading.** "

" **I guess...** " Fanren admitted, " **It just doesn't seem fair that we get freedom and he's made to practically break his body in preparation for solstice. I mean, does You di even know the meaning of the term 'goofing off'?** "

There was a moment of silence as each of the young women reflected on this statement. True, life had been hard for the all of them, being brought to the point of bleeding before being allowed to rest, but unlike them who could go and play once they had done their work, their little brother seemed to just always be handed the next task to master. Even though the youngest of the girls were five years older than him, and they all were prone to tease him on occasion for not being able to keep up with them, it was more than just the Elder's expectations that continued to push him onwards until he could almost match skill with them.

But all the same, Xiefa smiled wistfully as she thought about his little crush that he had obtained over his rival. " **I believe he has. He's gotten his taste of freedom, the ability to make decisions for himself, and I think even Mu qin is going to have a hell of a time forcing him to submit again.** "

" **I'm almost scared to see what sort of power he's going to have once it awakens to a true development in the next few years,** " Fudie pointed out thoughtfully.

" **Do you think he's going to be anything like Clow Reed?** " Fanren pondered.

" **Oh, no! He told the Elders he wants to drop Clow Reed and go his own way,** " Feimei said in a gossip like whisper.

" **You were eves dropping on the Elder's examination?!** " Fanren demanded, looking aghast at such an idea. The other two also looked on with minor surprise.

" **Oh, and like none of you were?** " Feimei accused, giving them all a pointed look.

Fanren looked to each of their older siblings in turn, neither was looking back and both were blushing in shame at being caught. " **What?! Oooh... why doesn't anyone ever call me for these things?** " and with that the second to last daughter began to sulk. The other three giggled out of nerves and once again the conversation veered to far more pointless subjects.

* * *

Well, there you have it. Part A of chapter 3 in all it's extended glory. Really the biggest alteration was the addition of the scene where Syaoran seals and names his Guardians. Initially Tai Yang wasn't dubbed Jiao Yang in her human form, nor obtained a sealed form, until a later moment in time (chapter seven, actually) but when I was writing this scene up it just seemed to flow better if both those parts were placed here with the binding of them to the Sword of the Elements takes place. So I have to go and rewrite that little section out of chapter 7 now before I can post it. Sorry for the further delay, but I figured things just made more sense this way around.

I also pulled the first part out of chapter 4, because I double checked my timeline and realized that the events of that day were misplaced. The three parts of Love War and Stores are probably going to get majorly revamped and hopefully compressed. That's one of the purposes of doing this rewrite is that those three chapters needed alteration. I'm dropping one idea thread that didn't pan out, perhaps moving it to a much later segment if I don't decide to drop it completely from the timeline, and a scene that I added for that idea now no longer fits and would be better just removed completely, though I will miss some of the lines from it that I found to be cute. I can just move them to another time instead, though.

Now, for chapter 3B, it will be dealing with Sakura and her preparations to leave, as well as her friends plotting behind her back. I chose to designate her part of the story as B rather than A because hers takes place over two days and Syaoran's is only a day long.


	6. Chapter 3B: Goodbye isn't Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura's friends plot behind her back. Cerberus and Yue get at each other's throat. Touya tries to argue his universe right-side up. And Sakura has a very disturbing dream. Running away from problems never works, they just follow after you and get bigger the longer you try to put them off. So what will be the result of Sakura trying to flee her broken heart?

Chiharu and Yamazaki were out on one of their play dates, a precious pair but with heavy hearts. They sat, so late in summer, on a bench in Penguin Park licking ice cream and holding hands. Though it was still early in the afternoon, they felt like it was closer to sunset with all the things that had happened that day.

Sakura had left quite quickly after they had made their rounds together, Tomoyo had walked her home, and Chiharu and Yamazaki had decided to go a different way from Rika and Naoko soon afterwards. The conversation today was more serious then it was on their average date.

They had spoken long and hard on Sakura's going away, and on her and Xiao Lang's feelings for each other. There were tears shed and questions asked about their own relationship, and when it all came to an end, they did indeed know more about the other.

Yamazaki looked over at Chiharu for a moment and pouted himself. " _I hate it when you're depressed,_ " he admitted while he looked at her.

" _You hate it when anyone is upset!_ " Chiharu pointed out.

" _Yeah, but I really hate it when you're upset,_ " he repeated.

Chiharu forced herself to smile for him, but that only brought a deeper frown to his face. " _Don't,_ " he said smushing his thumb against her lips. " _Smiles are only pretty when the person smiling means it._ "

Chiharu let her head sink and let a tear come to her eye. " _Well, then I suppose you're out of luck. I don't think I can smile while knowing that Sakura is going away. Especially because the reason she's leaving is a broken heart..._ "

Yamazaki put his arm around Chiharu's shoulders and pulled her in close to him. He rested his chin on top of her head and pondered on what she said. " _I suppose I am... I don't know what we could do to cheer her up. I would just tell her a joke, but that wouldn't work because she always just believes them to be real. Though I have to admit, that is one of her cuter traits._ "

Chiharu was forced to chuckle at that. Yamazaki really was twisted in his sense of humour. " _You would find that cute, wouldn't you?_ " but it was then that Chiharu was struck with a revelation. " _I know! Why don't we throw her a going away party?_ "

" _Oh, so you want to celebrate getting rid of her?_ " Yamazaki teased.

Chiharu hit him for that one. " _No, you idiot! Let's just... make the last of her time here a happy one._ "

" _Something tells me you want to go and find the others now?_ " It was really more of a statement then a question, but he raised the tone at the end of the sentence to be polite.

" _You bet! Let's go!_ " and with that they were off. 

* * *

Two small female figures moved purposefully down the sidewalk of beautiful Tomoeda. Their motion was slow but steady and lacked any signs of physical strain though there was admittedly a lack in the energy one might expect in two such young girls.

" _Onii-chan's going to kill me when I tell him..._ " Sakura admitted, looking bashful.

" _I'm sure he'll understand,_ " Tomoyo encouraged. " _It's just... a shame that Li-kun has done this to you._ "

" _It's not him, Tomoyo-chan,_ " Sakura said as they approached her front door, though by the tone of her voice it was clear that she was more attempting to convince herself of that fact than Tomoyo. " _It's like Kero-chan keeps saying; everything happens for a reason. I wouldn't have gotten that letter unless I was supposed to go to that school._ "

Sakura opened the door and announced her presence as always, but for once not even her guardians responded. In fact, they were in one of their heated arguments that were so typical of opposing forces.

" _Would you quit being so stubborn all the time?!_ " Cerberus yelled at close to the top of his lungs.

" _Would you quit being so jealous of the Mistress's attentions?!_ " Yue retorted in his own quiet version of a yell.

" _This goes beyond that, and you know it!_ " Cerberus growled out in frustration.

" _There is nothing beyond my Mistress!_ " Yue insisted.

" _It's Sakura-chan's wishes that I'm thinking about!_ " Cerberus insisted. Sakura chose this moment to intervene. Coming up in between them without any fear, she held a hand up to each. Yue instantly fell to one knee in respect while Cerberus continued to chew Yue out. “ _You insufferable, pig-headed, grumpy--_ ”

" _That's enough, Kero-chan,_ " Sakura said absently. " _What's this all about? Why are you two fighting now?_ "

" _Cerberus doesn't want me to come with you!_ " Yue accused.

" _Kero-chan, is that true?_ " Sakura demanded, aghast.

" _No!_ " Cerberus insisted. " _He's twisting what I'm saying!_ " When Sakura just looked at him expectantly, the Sun Guardian ruffled his feathers indignantly and sat down to explain the situation to his young mistress. " _While you were out with Tomoyo-chan and your other friends, the Otou-san came up with a very good point._ "

Yue made to interject, but Sakura silenced him with a gesture.

" _He pointed out that the Onii-chan is Yue's source of magic, and that if they get too far away from each other, then Yue might fade away again. But Yue's being too stubborn and saying that he won't stay behind!_ "

Sakura was filled with horror at the thought, but Yue jumped to his own defence. " _I am a Guardian; my place is at the side of my Mistress!_ "

" _Your place is with the Onii-chan! I can guard Sakura-chan perfectly fine by myself!_ "

" _You wouldn't be able to guard her against a power like Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon's!_ "

" _What makes you think I'd have to?!_ "

" _Power draws chaos! You know that!_ "

" _And what if you do disappear?! How much can a dead Guardian guard?!_ "

" _If I die serving my Mistress, I have done my purpose and have no regrets, just as a Guardian should. You are a failure as a Guardian Beast if you do not feel the same way!_ "

" _NO!_ " Sakura's sudden outburst shocked even Cerberus into silence. Tears were streaming down her face and her nose was all red. " _I won't go, then! I won't go if it means someone is going to die! I don't want you to die, Yue! I don't want anyone to die!!_ " 

She flung herself on the silver being and was soon encompassed in a hug. " _Now look what you did! You've upset her saying such things!_ "

" _You upset her with your stubbornness to not just stay here with the Onii-chan like you should!_ "

" _Stop arguing over me, please, both of you!_ " Sakura insisted.

" _I live to be of service to my Mistress,_ " was all Yue said.

He didn't need to say anything more, she understood that she couldn't talk him out of his decision, but still she had to try and explain to him what he meant to her. " _If you, either of you, any of you died to protect me... I don't think I could continue on, anyway. I'd rather die myself then have to live knowing that someone took my place for me!_ "

The mindless love, love that took no proof or action to entice, that she saw shining from his eyes told her that her efforts were for naught. It was just one of those things Yue would never understand, nor was he supposed to. He would obey her every wish, whim, and fancy, but he was a Guardian Beast and was created for her protection. Telling him otherwise would be as pointless as telling the sun not to set or the moon not to rise.

" _Um..._ " Tomoyo's voice was so uncertain in speaking up that it took Sakura a moment to even realize that someone had even made a noise. " _You need to get your school supplies, right? I mean, they have to have a special school supply store for it or something, because I don't think you'd be able to find wands and cauldrons just anywhere..._ "

" _That's right; they have a street there in London, Daigon Alley, that only magic users can access. It supplies Britain with all of its Magical merchandise,_ " Yue informed, back at his normal tone of voice.

" _Well, it's just..._ " Tomoyo eyed Sakura to see if she really ought to continue, " _Sakura-chan was looking forward to this school thing, and now I think she'd rather not go because she's worried about Yue-san, but maybe if Yukito-san takes Sakura-chan to get the supplies and Touya-san stays here..._ " She didn't even have to finish the sentence, everyone understood enough.

Yue looked to Sakura for her decision. " _Would that please you?_ "

" _Yes, then we could find out if there really will be any troubles involving you and Onii-chan being apart!_ " Sakura said, returning slightly to her normal happy self.

With the argument over with, Yue and Cerberus returned to their sealed forms. Yukito ruffled Sakura's hair affectionately, said his greeting to Tomoyo, and wondered off to go find where Touya had gotten to during his alter-ego's possession. Kero, now with nothing better to do, went to the fridge to get a snack before going upstairs to play his newest video game that Sakura had bought him, a proof to him that he was loved. Sakura and Tomoyo, for their part, went to find Fujitaka to tell him about her decision.

* * *

Rika had just barely taken off her shoes when the phone rang. Running to go get it, she picked up the receiver and held it to her ear. " _Moshi-moshi?_ "

// _Rika-chan, is that you?_ // the voice said from the other end of the line, barely containing excitement.

" _Chiharu-chan? What's up?_ " Rika asked, kind of surprised as Chiharu's happy tone.

// _I was thinking, let's throw Sakura a going away party!_ // Chiharu announced, proud of herself.

As soon as it was said, Rika's face lit up. " _Oh, that would be a wonderful idea! A surprise party is just the thing Sakura-chan needs right now!_ "

// _Surprise party? You think it should be one of those?_ //

" _Oh yes!_ " Rika insisted, " _I could bake a cake--do you think angels food or devil's food would be better?--and Tomoyo-chan likes cameras, right? So she can be the one..._ "

// _Rika-chan? ...Rika-chan... Rika-chan...!_ //

* * *

Fujitaka had been very supportive and understanding of all of Sakura's reasons behind her decision as she had talked them out one after another to him as a practice run before she officially broke the news to her overprotective big brother. He had patiently listened to all she had to say, prodding her reasons and ensuring that she had really thought this through before smiling and giving his consent.

“ _I feel like things aren't over yet,_ ” she had explained. “ _Both against Eriol-kun and The Void I almost lost, I can't keep relying on luck to get me through. If Eriol-kun had meant it, his spell would have put Onii-chan and everyone else asleep forever, and Void-san really did take everyone away before I beat her... I don't want to loose everyone like that again. I need formal magic training, or I might not be able to save everyone next time._ ”

While Fujitaka had accepted this reasoning as sound, Touya had challenged it. “ _But why England? Surely you're not the only person in Japan with magic, why can't you find someone here to teach you?_ ”

Sakura really couldn't find it in herself to blame her brother for being stubborn this time. After all, it wouldn't only be saying goodbye to his little sister who he saw as his responsibility but to his most beloved person as well. She felt a little lonely for him, being left behind with no way to follow because he gave his magic away to make up for her short comings. But as for why she needed to go to England for it, the only answer she could find was “ _Because England is the place that called to me._ ”

Touya knew enough about magic that he couldn't properly argue against that, but Sakura could tell that he was trying to piece one together with all his might just the same. This whole situation was tearing him apart, which in turn was hurting her even more that this was what she had to do.

“ _I won't be completely alone,_ ” Sakura reasoned, trying to reassure her brother. “ _Both Eriol-kun and Mizuki-sensei live in England, I'm sure if I need any help at all they'll be willing to provide it. And both Kero-chan and Yue are such wonderful protectors, I won't be in any danger or anything, I promise! Everything will surely be alright._ ”

When he couldn't find any further arguments, Touya had pulled Sakura into a tight hug before sending her to go pack for her shopping trip. She had barely left his room when his arms found their way around Yukito instead. His desperate hold was nearly bone crushing in its intensity, but Yukito merely returned the embrace without complaint. “ _Promise you won't forget about me?_ ”

Yukito blinked at the unexpected request, “ _Forget you? How could I?_ ”

“ _When Kaho went to England, she found someone new to love. I couldn't bare it if I lost you the same way,_ ” he explained.

“ _Oh, To-ya,_ ” Yukito admonished, his face in his boyfriend's shoulder, “ _I could never replace you. You make up too much of me for that. Even if you put me aside, my love for you runs too deep for me to ever be able to replace you. I promise, the only one I will ever love more than you is Sakura-chan, and that's--_ ”

“ _Different, I know. Your love for the kaiju comes from her being Yue's Mistress and like being a little sister to you as well. Though she must be first and foremost in Yue's mind because you are her Guardian, I know your feelings for her are not romantic in the least. You don't have to worry about that,_ ” Touya acknowledged.

Fujitaka came up around twenty minutes later to tell his children and Yukito that the earliest flight he could get Sakura and Yukito on was for the following day. Yukito thanked his boyfriend's father and promised to reimburse him for the travel fare once they returned after their trip.

Touya and Yukito had been planning to go to the movies the following night, but seeing as the plane would be gone before then, they decided to reschedule their date for tonight instead. They headed over to Yukito's house so that Touya could help him pack before the movie started, leaving Sakura with only Kero and her cards to worry about.

Mirror offered to help, and Flower came out as well, though the latter was more of a hindrance than a help. She kept filling the suitcase with petals, and was decorating the room more than anything. Still, she was doing it with such enthusiasm that Sakura couldn't bring herself to put Flower away again. Instead, she and Mirror just worked around the excitable woman to varying degrees of success.

“ _Ne, Kero-chan, have you ever been to England before?_ ” Sakura asked as she scooped the new pile of daffodils out of her bag so she could put her shirts in.

“ _Me? Plenty of times!_ ” Kero answered from where he was sitting on the edge of his drawer. _“Clow Reed was half English, after all, and eventually inherited the family estate in London after the rest of his relatives died off. He also had descendents in England that he would keep tabs on. His first wife was from there, and their kids never left. Of course, we never met any of them, they were all before mine and Yue's time._ ”

“ _Hoe? First wife?_ ” Sakura asked, stopping what she was doing to give her whole attention to Kero.

“ _Clow Reed lived for hundreds of years looking younger than the 'Tou-san does. He outlived many wives and children before he decided it was time to become what he is today. Sometimes I still wonder if even dying wasn't something he did just on a whim,_ ” Kero admitted.

“ _So Clow Reed lived in England?_ ” the Card Mistress questioned.

“ _He lived where he pleased. He owned property all over the world by the time he died, at least fifty houses from here to South America. He'd go somewhere for something it had, usually to study some ancient ruin or relic, and buy a house to stay in while he was there. Then, when he left, instead of selling it or giving it away, he'd lock it all up with magic so that no one else could enter and keep it. 'You never know when we might need to come back,' or so he said._

“ _But even still, England seemed to have a draw for him that the other countries didn't seem to share. He always seemed to go back there every few decades at least, even if just for a visit. Don't know why; he avoided the Li Clan like the plague, and that's where he spent his childhood, so it wasn't like it was his home town or anything,_ ” Kero explained.

“ _What is it like there?_ ” Sakura's curiosity pursued.

“ _What, England? Cool, wet, rainy... depending on the decade it also smelled at times. London proper was overpopulated, and busy no matter the time of day or night,_ ” the Sun Guardian reminisced.

“ _Is it much different from Japan? Will I fit in?_ ” the young girl worried.

“ _You're Sakura. It may take a little getting used to at first, but everything will be alright for you,_ ” he reassured with a toothy grin.

“ _I just hope that I'm not really making some sort of huge mistake..._ ” she admitted.

“ _It'll be fine, I promise. I'll be right there to take care of you, so you have nothing to worry about,_ ” her Guardian promised.

Smiling her thanks, Sakura set back to work, finally putting Flower and Mirror away when nearly every surface in her room was covered in blossoms and petals. Firey offered to clean up the mess for her, but Sakura thought that it may cause more than just the flowers to catch fire and so declined the offer. Instead she called out Erase to take care of the mess, effectively removing the problem without any property damage.

It wasn't much longer before a knock rapped at the door. Sakura pulled the handle to reveal Fujitaka standing there holding a tray with a pair of steaming mugs sitting on it. “ _If you are going to be attending school in England, you had best become accustomed to their time zone as early as possible so you don't have troubles when classes start._ ”

“ _Already? But it's still the middle of August!_ ” Sakura protested.

“ _Yes, and it will be September before you know it. Here, I brought you some warm milk to help you go to sleep, and one for Cerberus as well,_ ” Fujitaka insisted, placing the tray down on her table and patting the Sun Guardian on the head before exiting the room once more.

“ _*Sigh*, alright..._ ” Sakura gave in, going over and picking up the mug that Kero didn't claim. “ _Arigatou, Otou-san._ ”

Fujitaka smiled as he closed her door behind him. “ _I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning, alright? Goodnight._ ”

“ _Goodnight,_ ” Sakura parroted, drinking her milk and changing into pyjamas despite it not even been 8 pm yet. “ _Kero-chan, can you pull the curtains closed for me?_ ” she asked as she pulled her covers down.

“ _You got it!_ ” he replied, darkening the room as much as he could in the still-bright evening. After he was done, the little beastial Guardian fluttered over to his Mistress's pillow and curled up under the blanket with her.

* * *

Sakura stood with her staff drawn at the boundary between a forest and a lake. Lights, like a million little candles, flickered in the distance indicating a building that she couldn't make out. The sky was alight with billions of stars, twinkling breathtakingly on this clear moonless night.

Above her, one star seemed to shine more brightly than any of the others, though something told Sakura that it was merely her own perception making it so. Some part of her recognized that this was her star, her own special one that supplied her with her magic and that was why it stood out so brightly to her. She wanted to point it out to someone, but there was no one around to do so to.

That's right, she was completely alone out here in this place, why couldn't she hear anyone's voices? “ _Kero-chan?_ ” she questioned aloud. “ _Yue? Card-san?_ ”

No reply, she was alone and abandoned in this place and not even her Guardians would be there to answer her call. She extended her magic out, intent to find them and summon them back to her. The star pattern formed beneath her feet—the same that was printed on the back of her cards—and lit the forest around her with a brilliant blue that rivalled the daylight. But still no answer was forthcoming. 

Panic was starting to build, something was seriously wrong, why weren't they answering? Her friends, these ones who were so close to her that all she need do is think of them and they'd come running to see what she needed, what was keeping them from hearing her inner voice now? Putting forth all her effort, Sakura called with her magic, running through each of the signatures of her twenty cards and her two Guardians. Over and over she cried out to them, begging for some response, until finally a quiet little flicker of an answer came. _We will not return to you, for you are no longer Master._

Screaming in her horror and grief, Sakura threw out her arms and began to run towards the last flicker of their fading presences. “ _No! I love you, don't leave me like this! Card-san! Kero-chan! Yue!_ ”

* * *

Yukito stopped mid step and whipped his eyes around in the direction of the Kinomoto residence. Touya only took a moment to notice his boyfriend's distraction, and by the time that he registered the distress in the golden eyes the feathery wings had already burst from the thin back. There would only be one reason, Touya knew, that Yue would begin transforming in the middle of the street. 

“ _Sakura..._ ” Touya breathed out in horror. It took a moment for the fear and shock of the impending danger to ware thin enough that he could get his muscles moving. By that point Yue was already several wing beats ahead and unlike the event of last June, appeared in no interest of waiting for Touya to come with him.

Pushing his body as hard and fast as his club activities gave him the ability to, Touya pursued the angelic being the best he could. Being high on adrenaline helped him to ignore the ache of his muscles that began protesting to the anaerobic sprint, but even at his fastest speed he barely managed to reach the corner of the block he lived on in time to see the Moon Guardian entering through his little sister's window.

Seeing this gave him some minor relief. If she was at home in her room, then that meant that she had their father and her cards—not to mention her other guardian—to make sure that she wasn't hurt. It still didn't explain fully what the emergency was that caused Yue to fully emerge in the middle of the street, but at least he could trust that she wasn't laying unconscious somewhere on the side of the road.

Continuing to move, though with some of the urgency out of his step, Touya jogged the rest of the way home and after pausing to take off his shoes, went up the stairs and into her room. He entered to find the room packed between the the 20 summoned cards, two Guardians, and their father already all gathered around the young Card Mistress's bed, where the girl lay crying and screaming in her sleep.

In fact, the room was so full that even Yue had been able to do little more than land over by the window and stare worriedly over heads and shoulders at the bed from across the room. Yue's eyes had locked on to him momentarily as he entered the room, though the eyes had shifted off of him almost as fast when he was registered as a non-threat.

Fujitaka was kneeling at the head of the bed, looking worried. Touya knew their father had likely come running up the stairs at the first indication of Sakura's distress. On the bed with Sakura was Kero, still in sealed form, Jump, Mirror, Glow, Hope, and a bird that he assumed was probably Fly when it wasn't attached to his sister's back. Shadow and Illusion both clung to the walls behind the bed, and he could see Maze still in card form—probably coaxed into returning by Yue when the Moon Guardian desired to enter the room—floating around above Sakura's head. Shield stood dutifully hovering in the air above it's unconscious Mistress, and it's partner Sword lay rather uselessly propped against the wall by the door. Windy and Wood had stretched themselves up to take up much of the remaining space above the bed, while the remaining cards—Light, Dark, Firey, Earthy, Watery, Thunder, Flower, and Erase—hovered around in the remaining floorspace of the room. The only empty space in the room was at his father's shoulder, which Touya had the distinct impression was probably occupied by his mother's resident ghost, even if he could no longer see or feel her for real.

Touya had no chance to do anything but stand silent sentinel by the door. He couldn't get to his sister, and couldn't even get to his boyfriend, who was being forced to stand just as distant on the other side of the room. He felt so horribly useless here, the only being present without the powerful call of magic flowing through his veins in a room full of magical beings. For the most horrible of moments he felt out of place, an intruder in his own home, one that didn't belong in this family his sister and father had built. He couldn't even be there as something of moral support for his boyfriend's other self due to the fact that the Moon Guardian had ignored his existence completely after the initial registry glance and he couldn't even catch the androgynous angel's eye after that.

Finally, after what had felt like hours of worrying though was likely only a minute or two, Sakura jerked herself upright from her nightmare, panting with tear-streaked cheeks as the fear dimmed to realization. Fujitaka moved to sit at the head of her bed in the space the young girl had vacated when she sat up. With gentle soothing hands placed on her shoulders to help steady her, the man spoke to his child. “ _Sakura-san... are you alright?_ ”

When the girl's eyes shifted to her worried father, tears welled anew and she crawled up to wrap her arms around the man's neck. “ _Otou-san! It was horrible! Everyone had left me and I was all alone! I called everyone, but no one would come! They didn't love me anymore *sob*! They left me... they didn't... Syaoran-kun..._ ” that was the last she got out before dissolving into heaving sobs of pain and residual loneliness.

Touya cursed the gaki twelve ways from Friday for hurting his little sister like this, but knew from his own experiences that there was nothing but time and new love that could heal the wound of heartbreak, and that any words spoken to attempt consolation were just empty noises to the one in pain. Most of the Cards looked disturbed about the nightmare Sakura described, and those that he didn't recognize the emotion in was mainly because they lacked physical features to express the emotion with. However, Hope's expression held a distinctly horror-struck empathic quality to it that few other faces even came close to sharing. She understood on a level that the others didn't the horror of being alone and abandoned by those you loved.

The only other one who's expression came close to that same level of empathy was Yue, who's pain-filled posture made it all the more clear that while he watched the scene with longing, lonely eyes, he was seeing a man holding his Mistress who was long dead and who's reincarnations had either forgotten or replaced him. Though Touya could not get to his sister amid the mass of magical beings, he could push his way now around the perimeter to where the silver Guardian stood.

The first time Touya attempted to touch Yue he was shrugged off. However, he persisted and won out the second time with a minimal purse of the lips for his troubles. “ _Yukito is fine._ ”

“ _Ah, but you're not,_ ” Touya insisted, “ _and I need to be someone's support right now._ ”

Yue flashed him a look. “ _You what?_ ”

“ _I can't be the thing Sakura needs to help her right now, but I don't want to be useless and I can be a source of comfort for you,_ ” the teen explained to the angel.

“ _I am a Guardian, it's my job to take care of people, not the other way around,_ ” Yue stated.

“ _Yeah, but I need this, so take care of me by letting me take care of you,_ ” Touya instructed, pulling the androgynous being forward and kissing his eyebrow softly. “ _Besides, if the kaiju saw you all upset like that, she would only feel worse. So just shut up and let me be your doting boyfriend already, would you?_ ”

* * *

" _Are you excited about the trip?_ " Yukito asked as he handed Sakura her orange juice and made himself comfortable in the seat next to her.

" _Oh yes!_ " Sakura exclaimed, turning her attention from out of the aeroplane window and to her Moon Guardian. " _I'm so happy that Otou-san is letting me go. And thank you again, Yuki, for coming with me._ "

" _You don't need to thank me, Sakura-chan, it's like your father said when he found out about your magic, you'll always have my support._ "

*Flashback*

Fujitaka finally awoke after sleeping for over a day. He looked around, and though he didn't know where he was, he was not lost and he knew he knew this place from somewhere. Getting up, he walked out into a hallway and looked around. He seemed to know which way to go to get to the bathroom, and then once he was done, he found his way easily into a large room with only a single high-backed chair sitting before a fire.

Feeling for a moment like he had never seen such a lonely little chair, he walked over to it. He knew the feel of the fabric, the smell of the air in here, and he felt overwhelmingly depressed and like the world was on his shoulders. Sinking into the chair, he laid his head back, trying to ignore the feelings of déjà vu. As he looked at the fire, he felt a tear roll down his cheek for a reason he did not understand.

" _O-Otou-san! You're awake!_ " Sakura's voice spoke up from behind him.

Turning in the chair, he saw his daughter standing there in the doorway with two strange creatures, which oddly enough were not entirely foreign to him. They were both staring at him in shock like they had just seen a ghost. " _Sakura-san! What happened, last thing I remember is you casting some sort of... spell on me._ "

" _He_ _ is _ _Clow..._ " the lion murmured

" _Otou-san... I have been keeping things from you... for a long time now. I-I'm not a normal girl. I'm a sorceress, and these are my Guardians,_ " Sakura acknowledged at last.

Cerberus stepped forward to the man sitting in Clow's chair. The man had no fear, just a gentle acceptance of the massive and dangerous beast. " _So, we finally meet face to face. I'm pleased to meet the Otou-san at last._ "  
Fujitaka smiled pleasantly down at the Guardian. " _I've never been the father of a... talking... winged lion before. It’s a pleasure to meet you, umm... what is your name?_ "

To this the lion looked disappointed, and the angel in the background actually looked angry. " _I am Cerberus, and the other back there is Yue._ "

" _It is an honour, both of you,_ " he said, extending a smile to the cold figure in the back as well.

" _So... so you're not mad at me?_ " his daughter asked insecurely.

" _No, why should I be?_ " he asked pleasantly, coming to kneel in front of her.

" _I-I didn't tell you..._ " she reminded, in shame.

" _No, but I still knew. I've always known that you and Touya-san were sensitive and special. But you've said on several occasions that you were afraid of your abilities. So, I never pushed you to confess, I knew you would come to me with it when you were ready._ "

" _Bu-but-but--_ "

" _Sakura-san, I am your father, and I love you dearly and wish you nothing but the best, but sometimes being the best parent isn't shielding your child from harm or to nose into their business, but to step back and let your child struggle through and find their own path while providing them with the knowledge and ability to come to you whenever they need you._ " Fujitaka paused, letting this information sink in for his daughter before he continued. " _Sakura-san, you are loved, by far more then you may well know, and though I may not always be right at your side when you need it, your brother, your Guardians, your friends... everyone that cares for you will be there to help you as you need it, because that's what love is._ "

*Kcabhsalf*

_Yes..._ Sakura thought to herself, _I am loved, and because of that, because I love in return, I can get through anything. Everything will surely be alright._

* * *

 Well, there you have it. Originally this and the other half of Chapter 3 that consisted of what was going on in China had all been written in a single night with large chunks of the originally intended content missing. I had written up parts of those missing pieces with the intention of one day finishing them up and releasing them as they are now. I had actually finished Chapter 3A back in December, but didn't want to put it up until 3B was complete so they could compliment each other. However, it was a rough semester and sadly school work takes priority over hobbies. So this stood in stasis for the better part of six months until I had the time and muse to get it written out. I'm not 100% happy with the nightmare scene, it was meant to be darker and more traumatizing, but I couldn't figure out how to go about fixing that. Basically you have to remember that the most horrifying reality to Sakura is one where everyone forgets the people they love, so getting stuck in a nightmare that manifests that would be an absolute hell to her. So, the question you now have to ask yourselves is: is this just a nightmare brought on by Syaoran announcing that they were to forget about each other, or is this a vision of things to come?

Shade and Sweet Water, everyone

Keysha 


	7. Chapter 4: For Love, War, and Stores Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having reached England, it is now time to go shopping. Join the Li children as they get their first taste of the famous London shopping strip Daigon Alley. All they have to do is find it first. Meanwhile, Sakura and her Guardians find themselves lost in London, only to be rescued by literally bumping into the lady fated to meet everyone that way. Rejoice the reunion with Eriol and his extended family. Part 1 of 2 for the shopping trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, just a reminder to everyone:  
> Bold: Chinese  
> Italics: Japanese  
> Normal font: English

Living in the Li Clan, one tended to get up early. Each member of the family bathed or showered before beginning the long process that was dressing for the day. For Xiao Lang the process was simple, for his pants he chose a simple, black, loose-fitting design that had elastic around the ankles. He chose one of his short-sleeved mandarin style shirts that fastened simply up the front and lacked any design or distinguishing characteristics beyond the fact that it was green. From there, all he had left to do was pull a comb through his ear-length hair to remove any tangles, and sit and wait for the others to come out.

Xiefa was the next to be done, strictly on the fact that her hair was too short to do anything with. She was dressed today in a dress that on first glance seemed black, but in highlights was noticeable as a very dark green. It was ankle length with a slit up to her knee on the left side that was just an inch or two off towards the front from being on the hem line. The sleeves came down just past the shoulder and the collar veered to the right along the top of her chest. Trimmed in real gold and embroidered with a dragon on the chest and a phoenix on the skirt, she required little jewellery save for her earrings and a few bracelets on each wrist.

She smiled when she caught sight of her brother, who always had dressed down, and attempted to imagine what it must look like to everyone else to see him walking with his sisters. He noticed her smile and eyed her wearily before she came up and kissed him good morning on the cheek. " **How are you to ever impress your girlfriend if you always look so plain?** " she whispered before straitening up once more. He made a face of malcontent at her teasing which caused her to giggle before turning away as Fudie exited.

Fudie chose to wear a traditional styled red cheongsam in pride of their mother-country. A thick black trim went around the base of the neckline and swooped to the side to trail down the curves of her front until reaching her hips where it swerved over and vanished into the mid-thigh slit. The bottom of the dress, which came to the middle of her calves, as well as the upper rim of the collar and the sleeveless arms were all trimmed in a thin black cord that was separated from the rest of the dress by a fine golden line. The whole of the silk was finely embroidered with a cascade of elegant flowers in gold and blue that suited her nicely and accented her eyes.

Her shoulder length hair was pulled up into twin buns that were adorned with gold phoenix ornaments that had red tassels hanging from them. Her earrings were small golden flowers and on her right arm she had an armlet that looked like a dragon biting its own tail. On each wrist she wore a thick bracelet with a pair of matching sapphires imbedded into them, large enough to cover the back of her wrist. She greeted her sister with an almost arrogant smile for being able to pull off a better look, and then examined her brother and rolled her eyes at his complete lack of effort.

Feimei was next to exit, unconfined as always she left her hair long and loose, letting the silky smooth texture speak for itself. She chose on this day to wear a light blue silk cheongsam that only reached down to about mid thigh. Covering the silk was little butterflies embroidered in deeper blues and pinks. The buttons that held the mandarin collar in place were small, silver flowers that had a shard of jade within the centre of each to bring out her eyes. On each wrist she wore a number of fine silver bangles that jingled together like a song of bells.

Eyeing her sisters, she bore little surprise to see how decorated Fudie was, nor how elegant Xiefa was, and took a good moment to size up whether her innocent charm or their mature beauty were more appealing this day, feature by feature. Once content that she was, though not the beautiful bloom among the dead thorns, at least not in any form of poor taste, she walked over to sit down. Upon rounding the corner, and spotting her brother slouched on the sofa however, Feimei's eyes crossed and she got a look on her face as if to imitate someone who was dead. " **Oh, what an embarrassment...** "

Fanren, last to exit, was commonly known as being fashionably late for everything in order to make the greatest entrance. Her waist length hair was up in one of china's traditional styles, bound and looped on top of her head, though from the front you could hardly even see the intricacies of the style. This was because she wore a hair-piece consisting of three chopsticks bound in white silk with strings of diamonds handing of the end. Where the three met there was an array of silver and gold flowers, each finely molded by expert hands and embedded with jade and sapphire.

Her dress was made of a silvery white silk embroidered with gold thread flowers. The trim was a thick, pale green and the cording was gold. It buttoned once at her neck, but then opened to reveal a triangle of skin as the hem reached out to attach to her sleeves--which were short, just covering her shoulders--before returning to the centre just at the point where her cleavage began to show in order to continue on being buttoned down the front to around the middle of her shin. The dress stretched further to her ankles with a slit up to her knees on each side. The other girls knew the dress at once as the one she spent all her money on last time they had visited Shanghai, but for the most part all they had on their mind was that she had managed to out-dress them once again.

As for Xiao Lang, he met her eyes with as much disgust as she to his. She turned to her sisters and indicated their brother with a point from her manicured thumb. " **Can't we leave him behind?** " she begged of them.

" **Unfortunately not. We are on this trip to shop for him most prominently,** " Xiefa reminded.

All four girls looked at their brother, dressed as any other nobody, and gave a unit sigh. " **Well, he could use the fashion sense...** " Fanren admitted. The others gave a unanimous nod before, ignoring his look of horrified refusal, eight hands grasped him and drug him out to start their shopping spree.

* * *

" **Oh god, I am NOT going in there!** " insisted Feimei as they stood outside an old department store that looked like it hadn't had a customer in nearly a decade. The sign above the door read Purge and Dowse, Ltd.

Fudie examined the dirty crumbling red brick and sighed " **Well, these English folk sure don't take very good care of their magical environment...** "

" **It doesn't matter. Look, it says it's closed, we can't go in anyway.** " Xiefa pointed out and the five Li siblings continued on walking.

The Lis had found themselves in something of a delema, while they were aware that Great Britain had a shopping strip secreted away somewhere named Daigon Alley, none of them had ever actually been there before. With no guide to lead them, they were left following their senses in search of the appropriate magical location.

After searching the internet for a map that they could use in their search, Xiefa had realized that London had increased it's size drastically over the last couple of decades. She theorized that such a famous place as 'London's Daigon Alley' would likely not be in any of the recent expansions and so they narrowed their search to the older sections for starters at least. But still, that had left them wandering back and forth for the last few hours as they combed the streets for the elusive entrance.

“ **Come on, the next one is up that way,** ” Xiao Lang indicated with a jerk of his head as he pressed on regardless.

“ **I'm getting hungry, can't we go get something to eat?** ” Fanren pleaded.

“ **A diet will do you good,** ” the youngest Li retorted, earning him a disgruntle squawk.

“ **What do you mean by that?! Are you calling me fat!?** ” the older twin challenged. She only got a teasing smirk in return.

* * *

" **Oh gods, I hope there’s no one here that may recognize us…** " grumbled Fudie, with a hand over her face to try and hide it.

" **You’re the one who wanted to come along!** " reminded Xiefa.

" **That was when I thought that we were going on a shopping trip, not stand around an old telephone booth and wait for you to figure it out…** " Fudie complained, leaning against the metal strip of the corner and crossing her arms impatiently.

Xiao Lang sat over by the others, Feimei and Fanren had decided to spend their time sipping chocolate mochas while watching the eldest two across the street. Xiao Lang, who didn’t like anything that this place had to offer save for maybe chocolate milk—which he would not be caught dead drinking ever again now that he was no longer a little kid—just sat grumpily between the twins, slouched low and glaring at the lack of progress his sisters were achieving.

" **How much longer is it going to take, do you think?** " Feimei asked her older twin.

" **That’s hard to say, with the number of folded magic spots in the city… it’s almost as bad as Hong Kong…** " Fanren said.

" **But I want to get to shopping!!** " whined the youngest Li sister.

" **Maybe he’ll know where to go?** " Xiao Lang said, indicating a passing man who had a stronger aura then most. " **One of you go ask.** "

" **But… we don’t know him!** " whined Feimei. " **Why don’t you ask?** " she suggested.

" **Because I’m number one son and I say that you’ll do it.** " he replied, pulling rank to get out of doing something he didn’t want to do.

Grumbling, the youngest Li girl got to her feet and went to the man that had almost gone out of sight. “E-excuse me… Excuse me, sir? Sir?” she finally got his attention after chasing him half ways down the block. “Sorry to bother you, but I’m from out of town and I was wondering if you could direct me as to the location of Daigon Alley?”

At first the man looked too startled to reply, but slowly he took in the soft Asian skin and the nicely proportioned body that fit under rich embroidered blue silk. And smiled at the teen. “Of course, I’ll take you there myself…”

“Really? How sweet of you. Just a minute please, let me go get the others!” With that, she turned and hurried off, long brown hair bouncing around her shoulders as she ran.

“Others?” he questioned, concern darkening his tone even though the young beauty was out of hearing range. However his smile returned as not five minutes later the young teen returned with three other girls, each equally as stunning, and some little kid that didn't matter. Four under aged Asian teen beauties, sisters by the looks of them, going with him to where he could get a room for cheep...

The boy would be easy enough to stun and bind, and the girls—too young use magic outside of their classrooms—would be easy pickings after that. A few imperious curses and they'd be his to do with whatever he pleased.

* * *

“Well,” the wizard in his early forties stated to the five Asian foreigners “here we are...”

They looked at the run down little pub with varying levels of distaste, horror, and boredom. “And where exactly is here?” the young heir questioned, his eternal scowl shifting slightly to show the minor hints and traces of a look that was to say 'oh bother'.

“The Leaky Cauldron!” He announced proudly, placing a hand on the nearest sister, Fanren's, elbow to lead them in. “Entry way to Daigon Alley, it is! We have to go through here, so you'll have to follow me once we get inside, yes?”

While Fanren dealt with a way to politely tell this British wizard to keep his hands the hell off of her, Xiao Lang scanned the people around. They seemed not to notice the building being there, so he assumed that it must be inside of a magical fold, only visible to those who had magic, or perhaps only to those who knew about it.

The Li siblings followed the older wizard into the pub all the same, though, and shared a simultaneous reaction in putting their hands to their faces at the overwhelming grunge that met them inside. Several of the siblings had to hold back the desire to cough up a lung at the thick smoky air.

“Now, wait here for a moment while I explain things to the bartender,” the man told them, leaving them by the front door.

“ **These English sort, they're very dirty, aren't they?** ” Fudie said conversationally to her siblings.

“ **Horrid, disgusting place,** ” Feimei agreed. 

“ **About... a dozen customers, looks like rooms upstairs,** ” Xiefa observed. 

“ **Who would eat in such a dump? They probably have rats and all sorts of other types of vermin,** ” Xiao Lang turned up his lip.

“ **Oh, come off it,** ” Fanren defended slightly. “ **Not all of China's shops are perfect either.** ”

“ **It is true that many of the more ancient shops are a little... rickety,** ” Fudie aloud, as she pulled a silk handkerchief from her pocket and wiped it along a nearby counter. “ **But even the shabbiest of shops still maintain their cleanliness,** ” she finished, showing them the soft silk that now had a blotch of brown on it from the dust and grime build up.

They were too busy with their own inter-squabbling to pay any mind to the wizard, however, as he stepped aside to talk to the owner about a room for the evening. In fact, the five siblings continued to bicker among themselves until they finally realized that the wizard was attempting to gain their attention on the third or fourth of his tries.

“Come along ladies, this way, that's right, all of you,” he called to them from where he stood at the base of the rickety looking stairwell as they manoeuvred themselves through the tables and to where the man stood. “Right up here, ladies...” he said, reaching out and grabbing hold of the elbow of the girl closest to push her up the narrow passage.

His efforts were swatted by an iron grip and a pair of honey eyes glaring up at him. “And just WHAT do you think you're doing, touching my sister like that?” demanded the young heir. “Get your filthy hands off of her!”

“Go away, kid, you bug me,” He replied, pulling his wand and casting a fast spell to knock Xiao Lang off his feet and into a nearby table.

This simplest of mistakes put a whole new momentum into play where the wizard found himself dewanded and sent flying across the room by the four Asian beauties dressed in garb fit for queens.

“Hey, toots!” one large and burly wizard called as he slapped a hand down on the elegant Fanren's shoulder. “You just cost me my drink, I think you should apologize!”

Xiao Lang, who was in the middle of dusting himself off from his little mishap with magic when he looked up at the stranger who held his second to youngest sister's shoulder. He cocked an eyebrow and shook his head, muttering to himself about how 'he shouldn't have said that', as he stepped over to the owner and politely asked for directions to Daigon Alley.

Elsewhere in the room, the other occupants of the bar stood, anticipating a fight as the elder twin snapped her head around. The wizard had to hold himself from jumping back in surprise as the warm green of her eyes flashed to the cold heartlessness of jade. “What did you just call me?” she demanded, her voice dripping with venom.

The wizard stood frozen, as if encased by the jade that her eyes reflected, unable to make his mouth work to give a suitable answer before her fist met his jaw. And that was it, a trigger like none other to start the fight. Xiefa grabbed an available mop that had been innocently slopping the floor with water and took an advantage point atop a table. She sat with her chosen weapon ready, until she was met by a flurry of sparks, to which she quickly aerialled her way over to the adjacent table and quickly lifted a serving tray to deflect the spells and even reflected a few back at their casters.

This gave the people a smart enough warning to discard their apparently useless wands and regress back to the much more primitive way of just slugging your opponent. Xiefa then began to use the mop as if it were a staff, swinging it and jabbing it, giving her the advantage of reach over those who would otherwise overpower her. But she did not ever let down the guard of the severing platter either, holding on to one handle and letting it lay across her arm like a shield.

Fudie had managed to obtain two glass mugs, and had broken them in such a way that they became fighting knuckles for her, as she rashly ploughed her way with jabs and kicks through the throng of people. Fanren also took the initiative and charged her opponents, though her style was much different, relying on momentum to carry her through from one opponent to the next, as if in some elaborate ballet.

Feimei fought much like her twin, with spins and a strategy relying heavily on momentum, but as Fanren's relied on her own personal momentum, Feimei's was more reliant on her opponents, in a duck, dodge, and redirect approach to battle. Xiao Lang, for his part, sat atop the bar's counter and massaged his sore temples as he watched the progression of the fight with something mildly akin to interest.

At one point, Xiefa's mop was broken in half, and she sent the two pieces along to Fanren who used them much like schema sticks, and was left to just fight by whipping the large metal serving tray around until her pole arm-like weapon was replaced by Xiao Lang tossing her a nearby broom.

The fight, for all the damage it ended up being worth, didn't last much longer then ten minutes or so, before the girls found themselves victorious due to a lifetime of heavy training. The only real problem at hand was Fanren's refusal to stop hitting one poor witch who had pulled her hair. But after the other three sisters, as well as Xiao Lang stepped in, she let the fact drop. Well, at least physically, she still grumbled and whined about how that wench had ruined her hairstyle.

Xiao Lang, however, proved himself capable once more of pulling rank by insisting that they leave this filthy place because it was giving him a headache. So, obediently, the four girls followed their little brother out into the back cellar where he had obtained confirmation that the shopping district they were looking for was located.

“ **You know...** ” Xiefa pointed out as they walked through the opening that was left in the wall by the bricks moving aside. “ **Leaving that pub isn't going to make your headache go away...** ”

“ **What are you talking about? Of course it will! I didn't start getting a headache until we were in there!** ” Xiao Lang objected.

To this Fudie just shook her head. “ **It doesn't work like that, cub. Wizards aren't like us Sorcerers, when they get together in packs, their auras blend together so bad that it just becomes a total mess. Don't you remember that from your readings?** ”

Xiao Lang attempted to think about it, but the headache was getting worse now that they were out in the hordes of witches and wizards. Feimei placed a cooling hand onto his hair and spoke softly. “ **Try not to put too much thought into it, you're headache's coming from concentrating too much. They're absolutely everywhere, and you're just so busy trying to identify one from the next, you can't hardly even think strait, can you?** ”

“ **If he can't think strait, then how is he going to go to school?** ” Fanren asked innocently enough, while she distracted herself in the merchandise of a nearby street vender.

But though her words were not meant to bring harm or offence, the meaning behind them ran true enough, and brought an even darker scowl to the golden eyed boy. Feimei began massaging her younger brother's scalp, and said as comfortingly as she could manage, “ **Just try and block it out, You di.** ”

“ **I am trying... It just hurts more!** ” he whined slightly, pulling away from her fingers.

At Feimei's hurt pout, Xiefa placed an arm around her shoulder. “ **It's alright, poor little Xiao Lang just can't concentrate enough to do something like that right now.** ”

“ **Why aren't any of you being affected by this?** ” Xiao Lang demanded.

“ **It's worse for dark aspects, who can't block the magic out,** ” Fudie reminded, “ **and Xiefa and myself are older and have had more training for our defences.** ”

Feimei just responded with a nod as Fudie stepped up to the place of leader. “ **We had best hurry up and get the shopping done with, then.** ”

Fanren cocked her head to the side for a moment's thought. “ **But... wouldn't it be better to drag the shopping trip out? I mean, he has to live in this once he starts school, right? He needs to get used to it.** ”

“ **What would probably be best is if we do the shopping in segments, and let You di rest in the middle,** ” Xiefa pointed out.

“ **Alright, it's settled then. Let's go!** ” Fudie said, then looked around. “ **Where's Xiao Lang?** ”

* * *

It had taken the Li sisters a good ten minutes to locate their more-grumpy than usual charge. He had wandered on ahead, shoving several people out of his way, as he marched impatiently onward, determined to get this all over with as fast as he could.

When they located him, he was demanding to know where it is they change over their money into local currency. Though the question was intelligent enough, his headache and consequential lack of concentration left him rudely insulting the unhelpful shop owners in a garbled mixture of three different dialects of Chinese, as well as Japanese.

Fanren, always one who easily got along with others, jumped in to stop any problems that may be arising. "Hi, hello... Yes... please forgive my little brother, he's tired and has had a very long morning. He tends to forget at times that not everyone can speak ten different languages..."

The owner of this particular shop, a witch that had to be in her eighties, eyed the girl in white suspiciously, as three others did their best to drag the still scowling boy away. The owner could tell upon looking at the girl that she was of the material sort, one who would buy before thinking, and pay much more than what the object may be worth. She smiled at the girl, revealing poorly kept crooked teeth. "Why of course, my dear, such a small child such as himself, he must be going to Hogwarts, yes?"

"Yes, we're here doing his school shopping, he's going into his first year," Fanren said politely, smiling back, relief washing over her that they had managed once again to avoid a conflict.

"First year, you say? Well, let me show you this, this is a sneekascope, and it's a must have for all first years!" the witch insisted. "And because you're such a sweet little girl, I'll sell it to you for only half it's worth!"

"Wow, really?" Fanren's eyes lit up, but then dulled again, "But it's not on his list..."

"Oh, well no, of course not!" the old woman thought quickly, "But that list is only for what you need in class, it's got nothing for what's going on the rest of the year!"

"Oh..." Fanren had to admit that what the woman was saying did seem to ring some note of truth. "Okay, I'll take it! Do you take yuan?"

"Do I take what?" the woman asked, face jumping to confusion and voice taking on a dead-panned tone.

"Yuan. Chinese currency. We haven't had a chance to change over our money since we got to London."

The woman looked at the brunette girl dressed in white for a moment, then pointed farther on up the street. "You want Gringotts. That's the bank. Change all your money there. Then be sure to come back so we can continue our little conversation, yes?"

Fanren really didn't pay any further attention to the woman who ran the vending booth, she just turned back to her sisters and relayed the information. " **The bank's this way,** " and as easy as that, the five siblings wandered off.

" **Well, this is it!** " Fanren announced, standing proudly before the towering marble building.

" **Oh, gee, what gave that away?** " Fudie asked, rolling her eyes.

" **The sign up there says so,** " Fanren replied with a snicker.

" **Can we just hurry this up? My head's hurting so bad that the building looks crooked!** " Xiao Lang complained.

" **Um... You di? The building IS crooked...** " Xiefa pointed out in what she could only hope was a comforting manor.

" **Jeez, honestly? These wizarding folk need to learn how to maintain their buildings,** " Xiao Lang complained, marching past the tackily dressed guard goblin and through the front doors.

As his sisters followed, Feimei took a moment to examine the rhyme engraved onto one of the doors. " **Not a very friendly welcoming, is it? They must do terribly during tourist season...** "

"Hey, you!" Fudie called to a nearby goblin as it scurried past with a pile of papers. "Yeah, you. Where's the debit machine?"

"Debit...?" the small creature repeated, looking at the eldest Li.

"Yeah, you know... MasterCard, Visa..." Feimei said, coming to Fudie's side and pulling out one of her many pieces of plastic.

"My lord, you really don't know what we're talking about, do you?" Xiefa let her jaw drop at that one.

"You really need to get out more, buddy," Fanren pointed out, crossing her arms and looking annoyed.

" **And I thought Visa was accepted everywhere...** " Feimei pouted, looking at the card she had in her hand.

" **No worries, I'm sure they're just behind the times, I mean look at what he's wearing,** " Xiefa comforted, placing a hand around her youngest sister's shoulders.

“ **I'd rather not, thanks,”** was Feimei's reply.

" **Who cares about that, we've got cash on us!** " Xiao Lang cut in before the girls had a chance to derail the conversation further, already standing before a near-by teller.

" **You di's right. We can just hit a debit machine tomorrow before we come in and everything will be cool,** " Xiefa agreed, slipping over to where the littlest Li stood. Feimei followed, as there seemed to be no other intelligent thing to do at the moment, and the others followed.

Together they poured out all of their money onto the counter as Xiao Lang looked up at the goblin with a 'what are you gonna do about it' sort of look. Grumbling the magical creature shifted through all the change with it's long fingers, then turned and opened a drawer behind him. He turned around once more with 12 gallions, 7 sickles, and 4 knuts.

Fudie placed her hand over the stack of gallions and waved the others back. "We'll just take these," the goblin nodded, counted out what he was owed of the yuan, and then carried it off. The girls took their money and left.

" **So, where to?** " Xiao Lang asked as they stepped out of the bank, not really caring about their answer and mostly predicting them already.

" **The clothing store,** " Fudie answered at once.

" **Yes, definitely the clothing store,** " Fanren agreed. Xiao Lang blinked when it wasn't immediately followed by Feimei's voice insisting.

" **I want to go and check out what kind of books they have here. I'm fascinated with the prospect of European magic, and wizardry at that. It must have such depths of change from our own magic...** " Xiefa gushed to no one's great surprise.

" **I'd... rather like to know what wand You di will end up with,** " Feimei piped up.

There were a few nods of agreement, but the vote was still quite split. " **So... books, clothes, or wand?** "

" **Oh, no! Not books! We don't have any car, and I am not going to be seen carrying around a large pile of books all over London!** " Fanren vetoed.

" **She's right, I don't want to carry all those heavy books everywhere!** " Feimei agreed.

" **Point taken, we'll do the books tomorrow when we can bring along a vehicle,** " Xiefa gave in.

" **So then, wand or clothes?** " Fudie asked, looking around for a vote.

" **We already passed the clothing store, so lets continue onward to find the wands then come back for his robes,** " Xiefa thought logically.

When no one objected with the strategist's plan, Xiao Lang turned and continued to push his way further up the alley. As it turned out, the wand shop was a narrow, shabby building with golden letters above the door indicating the company—Olivander's—what they did—make wands—and when they supposedly came into business.

It was this third bit of information that the Li family looked at the longest, however. “ **382 BC?** ” Feimei pondered, looking at the sign with an air of innocence. “ **That was a long time ago...** ”

“ **2377 years ago,** ” Fudie stated.

“ **Were wands even in existence that long ago?** ” Feimei asked anyone who may know the answer.

“ **78,** ” Xiefa announced in the background.

“ **What?** ” Fudie asked, turning to the second of the Li’s to verify that she was indeed being corrected.

“ **Was the Li family even in existence back then?** ” Feimei continued to ask, ignoring the argument of exactly how many years ago it was and just being happy to leave it as old.

“ **2378; going from a positive to a negative, the zero becomes a significant number in the equation and must therefore be counted,** ” Xiefa explained to the eldest.

“ **Of course we were around back then! The Li Clan is one of the oldest in China! We are superior to these British fools, we even predate recordable history!** ” Fanren boasted.

“ **Is there a year zero? I don't think there is,** ” Fudie countered. “ **I mean, the Europeans are the ones who made the numbering system, and the stupid Europeans didn't even know what a zero was for most of history.** ”

“ **Hmm, I see your point. Maybe you're right?** ” Xiefa considered.

“ **Besides,** ” added Xiao Lang who was staring at the number with minor boredom, “ **It's not like the shop or this alley were here back then. They probably just sneak the number back one every few years for notoriety sake.** ”

With that, Xiao Lang entered the wand shop, followed closely by his sisters. “ **It looks like a library,** ” muttered one of the twins.

“ **It doesn't smell much like one though,** ” commented the other.

Xiao Lang's honey eyes skimmed the shop carefully, the ancient sources of magic were much more pronounced in this dusty old building than out in the crowded streets. He took this moment to actually stop and analyze the magical fluctuations. They appeared to be categorized into segments, which also helped him to focus more clearly on them.

He felt very clearly the purity of the mother phoenix's fire, the burning spirit of righteousness and the immortal spirit of maternity and love. The fire was a deadly element, when out of control it could devastate and destroy, but it also served to heal and cleanse away evil for a new start, refreshed so that it could grow back stronger than before.

He felt, also, the presence of fast moving water. Cool and soothing to the touch, never exerting itself over hard ground, always taking the easy path, but also always going. Its flow could almost whisk him away, throw him against the rocks, and rake him against it's bed. It chose it's path and moved forward, ever-flowing, ever-patient. It would erode away slowly at it's opponent until it dug itself to the heart.

The dragon's wind, Xiao Lang's own element, was free and unconfined. Flowing higher than any mountain, and settled below every ant, it was everywhere. Grand and strong, and a giver of life, it was the power of yang, father of the elements. Capable of being either a playful breeze or a deadly tornado, all life was subjugated to it's will.

And then, of course, the all encompassing, peaceful wood. Ancient and wise, patient and loving, everything that a mother could possibly be. The perfect teacher, the perfect learner, the essence that made up the soul of sorcery. Calm and calculating, awaiting the decisions of others and acting on them accordingly.

" **Their missing two...** " Xiao Lang mumbled, more to himself then his sisters. " **Earth and thunder...** "

" **You're out of luck, Fanren...** " teased Xiefa, who was rewarded with a sticking out of Fanren's tongue.

They were halted from any further chance of banter by the entrance of an old man with eyes like fogged ice. He eyed the large group of five who stood and waited to be served. Each one radiated their own distinctive aura of power and confidence that brought a look to the old man's face that only those who were old and omniscient could achieve.

"Welcome, welcome children. I am Mr. Olivander. How many wands can I provide you with this fine day?" he asked, looking from one to the next.

"Just one," Fudie replied, indicating her little brother.

"Ah, yes... Hogwarts bound, I suppose? Lucky boy indeed, never has that fine old school seen such a great Headmaster..."

Xiao Lang ignored his speech and turned to Feimei, " **See? I told you the sign was phony. There's no way the shop could have stayed under one family's management for nearly two and a half millennia.** "

" **Maybe there was a corporate take over?** " Feimei pondered.

" **Or maybe they changed the name of the store when the family name changed,** " Fanren suggested.

" **But that wouldn't really be being around for all that time, would it?** " Fudie pointed out.

Not understanding the quarrelling between the Asian family, Mr. Olivander cleared his throat. Politely the five siblings looked at him. "May I, ah, ask what circle you use, Mr..."

"Li. He uses the Clow circle," Fudie sniffed.

"Ah now, not many a customer comes in who follows Clow Reed's discipline," Olivander said, indicating that the family should follow him into a room in the back. This, like the one prior, was lined with shelves, stacked with boxes containing wands, but unlike the other room, this was much smaller, and on the end of each box a circle was drawn.

"Well, not everyone is a direct descendant, now are they?" Fudie bragged, and the other three sisters looked duly haughty, Xiao Lang however just seemed to sulk in annoyance at the reminder.

"Let's see, let's see... Clow circle... Ah, here we are!" Mr. Olivander muttered to himself, pulling off the shelf only four separate boxes. "This is all I have with the Clow circle on it. Try this one: birch at 9 ¾ inch, has a white feather core said to be the feather of--"

“Yue,” Xiao Lang spoke, recognizing the distinct signature of the Moon Guardian even with so little being radiated. The recognition pulled the curiosity of his sisters as they too tried to memorize the presence. He took it and examined it for a moment, before shaking his head and handing it back.

"Then how about this: 12 inches exactly, made of hawthorn with a core of a mermaid spine?"

Xiao Lang didn't even take a hold of it before shaking his head, "I don't think that one is for me," he informed.

Mr. Olivander was about to present the next wand when a clanging bell was heard all throughout the shop. "Well, here are the other two, please forgive me, I must see to these customers," and with that he hurried back to the front of his shop.

Once he was gone, Xiao Lang examined the other two in his own time. One was long and thin, unusually so, in fact. It, too, had the distinctive energy of the flame to it. He easily imagined Fudie using something like this one, but for Xiao Lang himself, it was no good.

The other, in contrast, was short and a little on the thick side. It held the grounding solid presence of earth, and though it cleared his head to be holding it, he doubted whether he would be successful trying to cast magic with it.

Feeling slightly at a loss, Xiao Lang abandoned the four wands he had been presented with, and instead began wondering up and down the shelves, running his fingers along all the circles and finding a simple sort of amusement in making them light up one at a time as he touched them. He soon found himself, however, hovering around a certain area of the shelf.  
Repeating the motion over that section again and again, Xiao Lang finally came to stand before a circle that was strange to him. Knowing runes well enough, he was able to tell that it was a moon circle, but from what family it originated, even from what part of the world, Xiao Lang didn't know.

He supposed it was local, because there were many of them here. He stood tapping the symbols of each one until he finally decided to take one out and look at it. It wasn't too terribly long, and was a nice rich shade, the tree this branch had been taken from had been a good, healthy, strong old oak. Under his fingers he could feel a rhythmic swirl to the magic current not unlike a heartbeat.

The power in it surged and welled, warred and came to rest in an endless dance. And something about it was so hypnotically familiar that it put him at ease. The way the energy moved back and forth, back and forth, he had to move with it, back and forth, without even realizing he was doing it, back and forth, back and forth, back and--

" **You di? Have you found something?** "

Feimei's words broke his trance and he turned to look back at the youngest of the ladies. Nodding, he raised his hands slightly indicating the object which he held and replied, " **I found this...** "

She smiled at him in a very sisterly way, and held out her hand for him to take. He put the wand back in it's box and brought it over to her, and though he didn't take her hand like some small child, he did stand at her side trustingly.

Accepting that to be what it is, she instead laid her hand between his shoulder blades and together the youngest two of the Lis returned to the other three just as Olivander came back into the room.

"Ah, Mr. Li, have you found a wand that's to your liking yet?" he asked in a professional yet not unfriendly manner.

"I have. I've decided I will have this one," he stated, handing the box to the elderly salesman.

Mr. Olivander hesitated for only a moment before taking the box offered. He seemed to gauge Xiao Lang on some higher unknown level. This was a sensation that, though not unfamiliar to the Li children, was not altogether welcome by them. "Interesting..." he finally said at length. "Oak, just over eight inches, core of werewolf heartstring," he rattled off out of habit.

However, he remained seemingly unawares of the youths mounting curiosity as he turned once more in an almost scolding manner to Xiao Lang. "This is a very temperamental wand, Mr. Li, I'm not sure if it's suited for a child. It requires a powerful wielder with an unshakable will. The consequences to casting anything less--"

He was interrupted by the sound of a very feminine giggle. "Moody, hot-headed, and stubborn, it sounds just like our little Xiao Lang, doesn't it?" Fanren teased.

"I-I do not believe you quite understand the ramifications of--"

"Save your breath, old man," Fudie spoke up, shaking her head tiredly. "The more you insist it's too much for him, the more he'll insist its the only one he'll have." She then waved a dismissive hand. "Let him have it, it suits him. Perhaps it may even teach him some humility."

"Oh, I doubt that!" Feimei spoke up. "Knowing Xiao Lang, he'll work at it off in some little corner somewhere until he has it mastered. He's always taking the hardest rout for things, you know that!"

Xiao Lang began to blush under their scrutiny, and Xiefa curled her fingers through his bangs "Why did you choose that particular wand, anyway, You di?"

He shrugged a little self consciously, "I just liked the feel of it when I picked it up."

Olivander shook his head in disbelieving wonder at their lacking interest in listening to him. "Well I'll be... maybe it really WAS Clow Reed that requested them made..."

This caught the sibling's attentions, causing them to raise their eyebrows in curiosity. "What do you mean by that?" Fudie demanded as they followed the owner back to the front of his shop.

"Oh, nothing much, it's just a long time ago, when I was still just getting into the business, a man came into my shop and requested the creation of five wands made out of some material he had with him. He was very specific about the wands, too. He dropped his name as Clow Reed--not that I believed him, of course, who would, when dealing with such an infamous hermit? You'd expect him just to make his own.

"But I made the wands to his request, as it is my job to do, and waited for him to return to retrieve them. But I waited in vain, as the man never came back. I've only sold one of them since then, and that was a good seven years ago to a young lady. No one else has been in requesting one of his circles," Olivander trailed off. "That one there was one of the five that he requested, and I suppose if you really are his descendant then it belongs with you. Come on out front and I'll ring it up for you."

And with that, the wand was purchased and the Li's were on their way. The next stop on their little family outing had Xiao Lang's poor mood plummeting even further than before. As any male will tell you, hell has no torture as clothes shopping with a woman, and the young heir had four.

Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions was a prettyish shade of green with a large sign above the doorway. In the windows, were several marionettes that would change poses every minute or two, modelling some of the new fall fashions. As Xiao Lang pushed open the door and led the others into the reception area beyond, a ringing could be heard like the chime of a bell; however, there was no indication of one in sight.

Brushing aside the oddity of anyone who would bother casting such a charm rather than just putting up a bell to begin with, the young heir turned from the door just as a short, plump woman bustled up. "My! What exquisite robes you girls have! Where ever did you have them made?" the woman asked.

"In China," Fudie responded, "by our family's tailor."

"Well, mine was bought in Shanghai," Fanren pointed out.

"Ah, so you come from China, then?" the woman asked conversationally as she led them in to one of the fitting rooms.

"Yes. Our brother has a special invitation as an exchange student in Hogwarts," Feimei said in like.

"School robes it is, then! Step up on here and I'll fetch them for you." As Xiao Lang stepped up onto the platform, he was left by his sisters to look at himself in the angled mirrors as they wondered back out to look at the designs in the windows and racks. He only had to wait about three minutes for the woman to come back in with some robes draped across her arm.

They weren't exactly the type of robes Xiao Lang was used to wearing, namely his green robes he wore while he assisted Sakura in the capturing of the cards the previous year. These ones were black and looked more like dresses, there were no slits in the skirt part of the robes and Xiao Lang had to refrain from cringing at the lack of mobility one was restricted to in such a getup.

The collar was wide and loose, like a t-shirt, easy to slip over the head without complexities such as buttons or sashes. The sleeves were long, and though no where near as full as what he was used to in robes, were loose enough not to catch as you moved your arm around. The belt was buckled with a simple square gold clasp that lacked any design or trick to it's buckle.

After slipping the first robe on over his head, Xiao Lang found the length to be rather for one many inches taller than he himself was. The woman stifled a chuckle at the incredulous look Xiao Lang shot her. "It's very rare that I get someone Hogwarts bound that's so small. It will take a fair bit of tailoring to get them to fit right."

"Don't you simply have a spell or something that can fix it?" the eleven year old asked incredulously as the elderly witch began pinning and tucking at the loose robes.

"There are, but the result is always shoddy at best. To get quality results, you need to take the time to do the work properly." The heir pulled a face in response, but admitted silently that she had a point. So with a sigh, he resigned himself to his fate of standing on a platform for the next hour as she worked away at getting the three sets of school robes, a set of work robes, a big pointy hat, and two different cloaks for varying weather conditions all fitted to his small stature.

On top of his purchase, his sisters also added each their own large arm load of multi-coloured fabric. Whether they were robes or just the fabric to make them (probably both, knowing his sisters) Xiao Lang could neither tell nor cared to find out in his present predicament. His head felt like someone had wedged a chisel between the two halves of his brain and let a toddler go at it with a ten ton mallet.

" **Can we go now?** " he asked with a tinge of impatience as they left the shop.

" **Yes, I think that would be for the best,** " Fudie agreed, easily catching Fanren by the elbow as her eyes began drawing her in the direction of another street vendor.  
The siblings left the Leaky Cauldron not even five minutes later and hailed a taxi. They chatted idly during the drive, Feimei finally got to use her Visa to pay the driver, and they all went up to their hotel room. The girls all played with trying on their new clothes while Xiao Lang locked his door and took a nap.

* * *

The plane finally pulled to a stop and the seat belt sign ceased flashing. Yukito smiled down at his young charge who had fallen asleep somewhere over central China. He nudged her gently, encouraging her to stir both physically and through the link he shared with her via Yue. She mumbled something about there not being school today, and this earned a chuckle from her escort. " _Sakura-chan,_ " he prompted once again. " _The plane has stopped, we're in London now..._ "

" _Mmm...? London?_ " She blinked the sleepiness from her eyes and looked questioningly at Yukito before her memory kicked in and she smiled at him. " _Are we going to go shopping now?_ " She asked, standing up and stretching.

" _No, it's too late to go now. By the time we got there the stores would all be closed. We'll go tomorrow._ "

" _Too late? Isn't it morning yet?_ " Sakura whined a little as she picked up her handbag. From with in it Kero began to get active, and Sakura put a hand on him to tell him not to come out yet.

" _Not yet, Sakura-chan, London is in a different time zone, remember?_ " With a whimper and some mutterings about less then favourable situations, she resigned herself to hang sleepily off of her brother's boyfriend's hand.

He guided her out, the only child among all the people dressed in business suits. They collected their luggage, Sakura's small pink suitcase stood out in the rotation like a sore thumb, but they had to hunt for a bit to find Yukito's green duffel bag. Once they had all of their luggage, they went out to get a taxi.

_Alright Yue, where do we go now?_ Though most people wouldn't know it for his introverted nature, Yue actually had quite a lot to say. Too much, most of the time, it seemed. In fact, Yukito felt slightly bad in saying it, but Yue was very opinionated. Having his mind connected to Yue like it was had its moments of great annoyance, especially where his own wants conflicted with his alter ego's. Yue, it turned out, was quite god at throwing mental temper tantrums. And so the complete silence in response to Yukito's question was surprising, especially being Yue tended to like ordering Yukito around. _Yue?_

The silence drug on for a moment more before Yue's cold tone floated forward. _This is different,_ he admitted, almost sounding embarrassed. _They did not have planes when I was here last, I do not know where this is._ He pointed out indignantly.

With a sigh, Yukito shouldered his bag and took hold of Sakura's suitcase. " _Yue doesn't know his way from the airport, so we're going to have to find somewhere he recognizes first,_ " he explained apologetically to Sakura.

" _Okay,_ " she replied, more awake now and willing to be active. " _Are you really okay carrying everything, Yuki?_ "

" _It's fine. Come along._ "

" _Stupid Yue! Doesn't even know his way around London where we spent so long!_ " Kero's voice came from the handbag.

Sakura opened it and looked in at her little golden Guardian. " _Does Kero-chan know how to get there?_ " she asked hopefully.

" _Do I know? Of course I know! I know London like the back of my paw!_ " he said confidently. Yukito had to nearly bite his tongue to hold back Yue's retort to that as Sakura pulled her head back to let Kero out. At once the small yellow animal shot to the sky, the faster he went meant the less chance there was that anyone would see him. He flew up as high as he could manage while still making out streets, and looked carefully at everything. He knew simply and at once that Yue was merely lost from the immense changes that had come to this metropolis, but he would not admit that at any cost.

After taking in a similar pattern of roads that he remembered around the area of Daigon Alley, he let himself drop back down until sitting with his upper body poking out of the hand-bag. " _We need to go that way,_ " he told them, pointing in the direction with his paw.

Jealousy and a feeling of being insufficient swarmed up from the recesses of Yue's mind. Yukito understood at once, but still took Sakura in the direction indicated by the little golden beast. On Sakura's insistence, she was allowed to pull her own suitcase behind herself and she did her best to keep up. It was after a good fifteen minutes of walking that Yukito stopped and turned around, " _Sakura-chan, I can take that for you if you need me to..._ " he called back to her.

" _No! You have enough things you're carrying already!_ " she insisted once she got about five feet away.

Yukito opened his mouth again to protest when something knocked into him. He was sturdier than he looked, and heavier than whatever it was, so he merely stumbled, but the other one was small and light enough to fall to the ground. Turning quickly, Yukito noticed it was a woman who had come out of the store to his left, arms laden with bags so she couldn't see him. "Oh, I'm sorry, miss!" he apologized, putting down the duffel bag to help collect her scattered groceries.

"Oh, no, it's alright, it was my fault! I'm too clumsy, I should have been watching where I was going!" she insisted, also grabbing for her apples that were starting to roll towards the street.

" _Mi-Mizuki-sensei?!_ " Sakura stammered. Both woman and Guardian looked at Sakura in surprise, before finally looking at each other in realization.

" _Mizuki-san!_ " Yukito cried in delight.

" _Yukito-san? Sakura-chan?_ " she questioned in a general state of confusion. But that feeling was quickly pushed aside when she lift a dripping carton of eggs. "M-my eggs..."

" _Oh, I'm very sorry, please, let me replace them,_ " Yukito insisted, pulling out his wallet.

Kaho smiled up at them all. " _No need, it's okay. I can go out again tomorrow and get more. Come, everyone will be thrilled to see you!_ " she said, gathering her refilled bags and getting at last to her feet. 

Anxious to see Eriol and the others again, Sakura did not even argue when Yukito took hold of the suitcase that she had abandoned in favour of helping the clean up. The three walked together for a good ten blocks or so before coming to a large Victorian mansion. Kaho lead the way up to the front door, shifted her bags for a moment before she pulled out her keys and unlocked the door. Opening it up, she called out, "I'm home!" before excusing herself to go and put away her groceries.

"Welcome back, Kaho!" a voice they quickly recognized as Eriol's came from further in.

Sakura hurried towards where she heard his call and flung herself around his neck in a warm greeting. " _Eriol-kun!_ " she cried as she made contact.

The small sorcerer literally jumped in surprise at her sudden contact with him and looked up at her with wide eyes. " _Sakura-san?_ " at her smile, he recomposed himself and returned the gesture. " _My dear child, whatever are you doing here? You weren't due to show up for another few days!_ "

Blinking confusedly at him, she finally smiled and said, " _I'm sorry that I'm early._ "

He chuckled in reply to her innocent politeness and shook his head. " _No, no, it's fine. I was just intending to go and collect you from the airport myself. Please, treat my home as your own._ "

" _Oh, okay,_ " she said happily, and then seemed to notice something. " _But... Eriol-kun, if you can't see the future anymore, how did you know we would be coming?_ "

To this Eriol smiled, " _Though I do no longer know everything, it takes so long for time to change by the power of the heart alone that the memories I have from when I still could, guide me through all things without question._ "

" _So, my spell didn't work?_ " Sakura asked apologetically.

" _No, on the contrary it did, as I said, I was not expecting you for another few days..._ "

" _But you were still expecting us,_ " she pointed out, to which he gave a sad nod.

" _So is the nature of dark magic..._ " he then smiled at her. " _So, how long will you be staying with us?_ "

" _Hoe! But we can't intrude like that!_ " Sakura insisted.

" _Nonsense! You are the daughter of my other half! You are family to me, and I insist that you treat my home as if it were yours!_ "

" _Ha-hai..._ " she said, blushing. " _We were going to stay for three days unless something happens to Yuki,_ " she indicated, turning around to look at Yukito who stood patiently at the door.

In Yukito's eyes there shone through a troubled longing felt by Yue, though he smiled in greeting to the ancient sorcerer all the same.

Eriol smiled back for a moment, understanding locked in the puzzling maze that was his look, before turning to Sakura and smiling lovingly. " _I am very glad, I have missed you all greatly and have been longing for company._ "

With that said, Eriol called Nakuru in to lead Sakura and Yukito to their rooms. After the initial settling in was complete, Sakura insisted in helping to prepare dinner in payment for letting them stay at the house. Nakuru shrugged and showed her the way down there, along with Kero who was interested in anything involving food. Yukito, on the other hand, found his feet had carried him back to Eriol, instead. The small sorcerer was waiting expectantly when he entered. "What is bothering you, Yue?" he asked, though his tone gave the impression he already knew.

With no reason not to, Yue drew himself forward within the psyche of his host. "Master... have I somehow failed you?" he asked, full of self-doubt as he knelt before the sorcerer.

"Now, Yue, what would ever give you that impression?"

"You didn't want me, Master!"

"Now when did I ever say that?"

"You replaced me, Master, with that one Ruby Moon."

"Yue... How many times must I explain it to you? I am not Clow Reed. Clow Reed is dead. My name is Eriol."

"But Master, you are his reincarnation!"

"I am half of it, yes. But so is Fujitaka, who you live with!"

"It's not the same, he doesn't know me! Not like you do, Master!"

"I am not your master, Yue," Eriol stated firmly as he stood and walked away. But the memories of his last life's guardians caused him to stop and sigh. "Yue... Before Clow Reed died, quite some time before in fact, he had foreseen the existences that were both I and Fujitaka. He knew that the dark magic he himself possessed would be capable of splitting the soul, but not the magic or memories themselves. And seeing as I bear his power, not only would I face the same obstacles, but also my power would never work against Fujitaka."

"But what does that have to do with anything?" Yue demanded.

"Simply this: Though we were both his reincarnations, I had all his power while Fujitaka had nothing. You, Yue, as well as Cerberus, were left with Fujitaka because he was the part of Clow that needed you the most. And more than that, Clow knew Fujitaka was going to have Touya-san and Sakura-san, and he looked at them very much as his own children. He chose to give you to them because he wanted the very best protecting his family."

"I am... the best?" Yue asked, awed at being referred to as such.

Eriol smiled down at him. "Clow poured all his heart and soul into making you and Cerberus, Yue. That's why you surpass all other Guardians by so much. And now Sakura-san needs you to be there for her to protect her, as well as her family, until she comes into her true power. And even after she does, she needs your centuries of wisdom to help her live out the rest of her life. I have Clow's memories, I have the wisdom already. So I ask you, as the last of Clow Reed, to guard and protect my other half and his family."

Pride filled Yue at this moment like Eriol had never seen with his own eyes. Yue was the best of Guardians. Clow was intrusting his most precious family in Yue and Cerberus's care. Yue was important. "I will not let you down, Master," and with that Yue stood and went to go find his Mistress.

* * *

Nakuru stopped before the door to the kitchen. " _This is it, have fun!_ " before she turned and continued on walking.

Kero zoomed around the corner into the kitchen before Sakura even got there. " _Hey! Nee-san! What's to eat?_ "

" _Kobanwa, Kero-chan. Are you here to help?_ " Kaho asked pleasantly.

" _He's here to sneak snacks while we're making them..._ " Sakura said as she came up to Kaho's side. " _Where is the aprons?_ "

" _Right in the cupboard over there,_ " Kaho told her. " _Usually Eriol would be in helping me, but he said he has work to do tonight, so I guess it will just be us._ "

That is when a noise from down the hall reached Kero's ears. " _Hey, Nee-chan, what's that?_ "

" _What's what?_ "

" _That music... it sounds distinctly like a video game._ "

" _Oh, probably Nakuru managed to rope Spinel into playing with her again,_ " Kaho announced. Kero was at once floating out of the room to go and see what they were playing.

" _What are we going to make?_ " Sakura asked.

" _I don't know. I'm not a very good cook._ " Kaho admitted. " _What can you make?_ "

" _I'm good at making pancakes..._ " Sakura said, for lack of anything better to suggest.

" _Okay, you start on that, I'm pretty sure the mix is in that cupboard over there and the pans are in here. Hmmm... what can I make... Oh! I know! I can make rice!_ " and so began the preparation for dinner...

* * *

"Oh, common Suppi! At least try and play!" Nakuru complained. "I'm wiping the walls with you!"

"Who is this 'Suppi' you keep talking to? There is no one here besides you and me," Spinel replied indignantly, mindlessly pressing the occasional button on the controller.

Kero chose that moment to fly up over Spinel. He hovered their and watched the two playing the game, and sure enough, Nakuru was kicking some serious butt. "Oh man, you suck," he informed the blue Sun Guardian.

"Thank you for the observation, Cerberus," Spinel growled out annoyed.

"Kero-chan's right, you know, you do suck," Nakuru informed 'helpfully' as she beat her opposite once again.

"I could do better then that with my eyes closed!" Kero bragged.

"Really...?" Nakuru asked, intrigued. She shoved Spinel aside and pushed Kero down in his place. "Show me."

And thus it began, a bonding of beasts so different, yet so the same.

* * *

It was quarter past six when Xiefa cantripped her way into Xiao Lang's room. He still lay asleep, which was rare for him, and she smiled at the fact that he held the little winged teddy bear so tenderly as he did so. She took his shoulder and gently shook it, stirring him from his sleep. " **Good morning, sleepy head.** "

"Mmm?" the boy asked, then rubbed the sleep from his eye and tried again. " **Morning already?** "

Sheifa chuckled at him, " **No, it's only evening. But it's time to get up, we've decided to have dinner here, then Feimei says there's going to be a performance on tonight at The Royal Opera House, and Fudie says that we shouldn't miss the cultural experience while we're here anyway.** "

" **In other words she's bored and doesn't want to go somewhere alone,** " he paraphrased, already feeling much better than he had earlier that day.

" **Quite. But you know how she gets if we try and deny her her way at times like this.** "

" **Absolutely impossible,** " Xiao Lang agreed. He spent another few minutes staring blankly at the bed's canopy above before rolling over and pulling himself up to a sitting position.

" **Okay, fine. I'm up.** "

" **So, are you going to tell the others about your little girlfriend, or are you going to just leave them to wonder on where the little cute toy came from?** " his second oldest sister teased, eyeing the toy he left in the middle of his bed.

Xiao Lang flushed at the sudden change of topic and snatched Sakura-teddy up quickly and shoved it back in his suitcase. " **Mind your own business!** " then, as an afterthought he added a sullen: " **and she's not my girlfriend...** "

" **Indeed? Does this mean you'll cradle just any girl's teddy bear in your sleep?** " Xiefa asked, making herself comfortable on her brother's bed.

" **Aren't we going to dinner?** " he changed the subject. When Xiefa only sat and laughed at him, he grabbed her arm and pulled. " **Quit that! Get up! It's time to go!** "

Still laughing at her brothers expense, the lady in green let herself be pulled from the bed and out the door.

* * *

Never had the lonely mansion at the end of Reedington Drive seen such a party of people. Four Guardians and three sorcerers of varying levels of supreme power all sat before a table the prepared meal from the two young ladies. The meal was diverse in variety and taste, and while Kaho sat proudly presenting the meal to those who wished to eat it, Sakura was flushed in embarrassment. You see, the meal consisted of the following dishes: pancakes, rice, instant-ramen, a salad, grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit strips, spaghetti, chicken noodle soup, and omelets.

Eriol sat there at the head of the table, with his hands folded before his face and grinning to the point of tears. Sakura saw the tears in his eyes and lowered her head in shame. " _I'm sorry it's no good, but--_ "

" _No, no, Sakura-san! It's wonderful. It's beyond perfect, because you made it with your heart,_ " he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. " _I am just... unaccustomed to the family life is all. I am just very, very happy._ "

The fact that they had made him so happy brought a smile and a blush to the faces of both the chefs. " _But Eriol-kun, you have a family..._ " Sakura pointed out, indicating Kaho and his Guardians.

" _Yes,_ " he agreed, taking her hand lovingly. " _But soon I hope that you will come to see me as family, too,_ " he told her, a longing in his voice.

Sakura looked a little surprised for a moment, before breaking out into one of her patented smiles. " _I would like that._ "

" _Well, enough of such things! Let us eat!_ " Eriol said, gesturing for everyone to help themselves.

The meal was entertaining, even with the odd assortment of choices; talk was in abundance with the variety of participants present, and laughter rang and echoed off of every bare wall and shadowed corner the mansion had to offer. Even after the food was gone, they sat and talked and were merry until midnight had come and went. It wasn't until Sakura fell asleep at the table that it was admitted that all should probably go to bed. So after Yukito laid his Mistress down to sleep, he himself went and rested as well.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there you have it, the first part of the edited “For Love War and Stores” monster chapter(s) this one ending at 15 pages and over 11,000 words. For those who have read the original chapter previously, you may notice that the order of things has been rather rearranged. There's nothing I could do about it, as the events of one of Sakura's days are being removed from the story and so I had to shuffle everything as a result.  
> For those that are interested in my interpretations, here's a little on the Li sisters: Fudie, born 1976, the lady in red, a dark fire elementalist (so she's a sun). Her weapon of choice is the fighting claws. Her personality is said to be very strong and duty bound, she is highly traditionalist and holds her clan above all else, including herself and her family. Xiefa, born 1978, the one in green, her power is a natural trinity between wind, water, and earth, making her a wood elementalist (moon, dark). Her prime weapon type is the spear and shield. As for her nature, she is the family strategist and also the maternal one of the girls. She is Xiao Lang's favourite sister. Fanren, the older twin, born 1980, she's the one in yellow in the movie, her element is earth (sun, light). She fights with the Chinese twin maces. She's got an easy-going personality and likes having lots of trinkets. Feimei, the younger twin, also born in 1980, wears blue, uses water as her element (moon, light). She fights with the sickle chain. Something of a free spirit, wonderful at potions, suffers from minor cases of claustrophobia. And if anyone's interested, Xiao Lang's element is wind, though he is studying to learn to master all the elements like his mother has. Yelan, their mother, is naturally a thunder, made up of the trinity of fire, earth, and water (sun, dark).  
> The point to pay attention to in this chapter is that perception effects interpretation of events. For Harry, who longed for something different from the normality of his upbringing, the medieval and bizarre setting of the magical world was given a promising light. He saw everything that was strange or different as amazing and fun. That being said, pay note to how the Li family observes all of the same locations and gain insight to the way the family was taught to think.  
> Well, that's it for now, and remember everyone, be sure to review! Critiques are loved, flames are tolerated, and all other comments are inspiration!  
> Shade and Sweet Water!  
> Key


	8. Chapter 5: For Love, War, and Stores Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second part of the shopping trip, where both Sakura and Xiao Lang wander Daigon Alley to collect their school supplies. Eriol progresses the subplots and enjoys a bit of family life, while the Weasley twins get bored and start a pranking war against the Marauders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just cause it's been a while, please remember:
> 
> "Bold is being said in Chinese"
> 
> "And italicized is being said in Japanese"
> 
> "And normal is being said in English."
> 
> And italics outside of quotation is thought or written words.

It was just as the first of the predawn light started to make its way into Xiao Lang's hotel room that the young boy awoke. The cultural exploration they had indulged upon the night before had ensured that they hadn't returned home until after midnight, though it had admittedly been a very fascinating performance.

However, agreeing to all head out to finish their mandatory shopping first thing in the morning had driven them all to bed as soon as they returned to their suite. It was when Xiao Lang came from the shower, towelling his hair as he walked, that he noticed something to be wrong. Well, not wrong exactly, but his sisters all sat in a row-already dressed for the day-with rather peculiar smiles on their faces.

He barely opened his mouth with the intent to ask what was going on when suddenly he found himself pounced by all four giggling girls. As they each took a limb and began carting him off to his room, Fudie winked down at him and announced " **We've come to an agreement. You have no fashion sense and we can't be seen going everywhere with a dorky looking brother, so we're going to help you.** "

" **Help?** " he squeaked out, dreading what they could have in mind at such a statement.

His only response was four smiles which some part of his brain registered as having been inherited from Clow Reed.

* * *

August 18th, 7 AM found Sirius coming down the stairs into the kitchen with his hair charmed to have bright pink streaks in it. He sat, quietly fuming, next to Remus, who couldn't quite manage to stifle the smile at the sight of his friend, nor could he avoid looking at him from the corner of his eye.

"Your doing?" Sirius almost snarled at his best friend.

"Oh, honestly Padfoot, I haven't done anything so mundane since third year, and you know it," Remus responded with an offended snort.

"The twins, then," concluded the dog-man. "This has a distinctive air of a challenge, you know. They could also use some lessons on class," Sirius mused, slowly gaining something of a smirk.

"Care for some assistance?" Remus asked, pulling forth a smile that had to have the dust shook from it and the rust oiled away to manage to be pulled on his old face.

* * *

Eriol lovingly pulled a brush through Kaho's long auburn hair as she sat and fixed her makeup. He brought a fist full up to his lips and kissed it adoringly, treasuring the silky-soft texture and the floral shampoo scent. Kaho smiled at his reflection in the mirror, amused by his small acts of affection.

The moment was ruined all too quickly by the thundering of footsteps down the hall out the door. " _Akizuki-san! Give that back! It's mine! To-ya gave it to me!_ " Yukito's usually calm voice cried from the other side of the door, for once sounding truly agitated.

" _Make me!_ " came Nakuru's teasing response. There was the sound of something heavy hitting the ground followed by a minor scuffle and a girlish squeal before they heard Nakuru call out " _Kero-chan, catch!_ "

As two voices rose in laughter and Yukito's voice carried farther down the hall calling in a half plead to his brother, Kaho and Eriol exchanged looks before breaking into fits of their own laughter. "THIS is what my life has been missing..." Eriol confessed once the laughter had subsided a little, "the utter chaos that only children can bring..."

Kaho flushed at the unspoken implications in his admittance. "E-Eriol..." she whispered in something between awe and fear.

His only response at first was to smile lovingly at her before he changed the subject slightly, "It's nearing seven-thirty, I had best get breakfast started, the children will be getting hungry soon." With a chastate kiss to her temple, he walked out the door.

* * *

After forty-five minutes of debating, the four Li girls had finally settled on an outfit to wrestle their brother into. He was lucky that he didn't have many elaborate or gaudy outfits, lest they be there all day. As it were, the outfit they chose for him was not even remotely appealing to his personal tastes, but at least they were satisfied. As it turned out, he got forced into a 'welcome home' present sent to him as a bribe from the Shu Clan.

They had a daughter around Xiao Lang's age, and had been trying to impress the family long enough to marry her to him. They had sent Xiao Lang a jade green changshan that hung down to his mid-shins. The silk was of an impressive quality, with his clan's name in a darker shade of green patterned all over, save for a gold embroidered circle on the back which sported Clow Reed's insignia. With it he wore a pair of black pants held at the waist by a sash beneath the changshan, and a pair of slippers that matched the changshan. As an accessory, Fanren enchanted the hat of his formal robes to match the rest of his outfit.

With that out of the way, Xiao Lang escorted Fudie down to the hotel restaurant where the five Li siblings ate their breakfast. They sat ironing out the last of their plans on where they were going to go and when as they waited for the limousine to come for them. By the time the limo came, no less than seven other people staying at the hotel had asked if the Li girls were princesses, three of them got the wrong country and called them Japanese or Korean.

Climbing into their transportation, Xiefa gave the driver directions to the pub they had been at the day before. Everything was without a hitch until they finally reached their destination. When the limo driver pulled over and came to open the door to let the passengers out, he asked in an honestly concerned tone of voice, "Are you kids sure this is where you want off? This isn't exactly the sort of neighbourhood for rich people to wander without some sort of bodyguard..."

Fudie rewarded his concern with a smile. "We'll be fine; we can take care of ourselves. Just wait here for us until we get back and everything will be fine."

"If you say so, Miss. But I'd really feel better if you'd let me go with you, or at least call someone to escort you..." the driver insisted one last time.

"Thank you, but no. We will be fine."

"Alright, if you insist there's nothing I can do. To have me wait for you here's going to be added to your tab, though."

"Yes and...?"

"Oh, nothing, just law that I tell you so you can't get mad at the charges later."

"Oh, of course. Thank you for your concern and time, Mr..."

"White. John White."

"Mr. White. We will see you in a few hours, then. Good morning," and with that last thing said, the five Li's turned into the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

8:48 AM.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione paused on the landing on their way up the stairs after breakfast, to watch the twins come from a room and stalk past them. What held their attention, however, was not the twins' oddly dark mood, but rather that they were both sopping wet and that one of them, Fred if they weren't mistaken, had a fish flopping around in his shirt.

The last thing the Golden Trio heard before the twins rounded the corner to the kitchen was a muttered "This means WAR."

* * *

Eriol was just setting the last of the dishes in the drying rack when Sakura poked her head in to see if there was anything he needed help with. " _Its fine, Sakura-san. I've just finished._ "

" _Hoe? Gomen ne, Eriol-kun! I would have come earlier to help but Akizuki-san and Kero-chan were picking on Yuki and Yue got mad and came out and I had to stop them from all fighting before they disturbed Spinel-san's reading..._ " she tried to explain her tardiness.

Eriol just gave a chuckle. " _Daijoubu, Sakura-san. With a bit of magic, even feeding those three Guardians is rather easy,_ " he told her with a wink.

" _Honto ni?_ " Sakura asked, with her eyes wide, understanding from personal experience just how much food Yukito and Kero could go through when they both sat down to the same meal.

" _Hai. I'll show you how one day, if you'd like. But putting that aside, if I remember correctly you and Yukito are going to go and get your school supplies today?_ " he clarified, changing the subject.

" _Ah! That's right! I can't wait to see what a real magic shop looks like!_ " she agreed, visibly regaining her childish energy.

" _Wizards and witches really_ _do_ _do things differently than us sorcerers or those without magic. You ought to have fun there,_ " Eriol admitted, seemingly in reminiscence. " _I only wish I could come along to see your face at everything!_ "

Sakura's face fell once more. " _Hoe? Eriol-kun, you're not coming with us?_ "

" _Iie, I'm afraid I have too much other business to attend to today. Oh, and while we're on the subject of your next school year, have you sent your acceptance letter back to the school?_ "

" _Iya, I tried, but the owl had already gone away and I couldn't find another anywhere,_ " Sakura admitted with a flush of embarrassment

" _Alright, not to worry, I'll take care of that, as well. It won't take me more than a few extra minutes,_ " he informed her, smiling parentally. " _Also, have you thought yet of how you're going to smuggle Yue and Cerberus in with you? Lord knows Yue would never let you leave him behind..._ " he rolled his eyes to show his exasperation, but his smile was genuine and loving all the same.

" _Hai, Onii-chan said he should be my translator seeing as I can't speak much English yet,_ " Sakura explained.

Eriol nodded in understanding, putting away his apron and starting for the hall. " _Very clever of Touya-san. Alright, I'll be sure to add that bit of information into the letter so they will be expecting him._ "

" _And Kero-chan said it was okay to just call him a pet._ "

" _Did he now?_ " Eriol questioned, raising an eyebrow.

" _Well, after a very long argument about it with Yue, but…_ " this admittance managed to draw a chuckle out of Eriol, but as Sakura had chosen to gloss over the whole situation the reincarnated sorcerer chose to follow suit.

" _Yes, there are spells that can give normal seeming animals special features. It's generally frowned upon in the British Isles because of it's obviousness relating to magic; however, if we just write it off as an Asian fashion statement, there should be no problems,_ " the stormy eyed sorcerer plotted.

" _Hoe? Will I get in trouble?_ " Sakura worried.

" _Hmm?_ " Eriol glanced up at her a moment before brushing the thoughts aside, " _No, no, I was just thinking aloud. No, you won't get in trouble for it; everyone will just write it off as a cultural thing and leave you alone on the matter. Britain allows a much broader rage for self-expression in schools than Japan does._ "

* * *

9:31 AM

Tonks dove from the room at the top of the stairs, followed by an ominous cloud of green powder. Remus Lupin had been assisting Sirius and Tonks in clearing out this old library of anything that Sirius deemed 'unnecessary waste of space'-which admittedly was over half the books in the room—when he had opened a new can of cleaner to get at the mould that had began infesting the shelving unit, it had erupted into the gaseous state of green it was now.

Tonks had given a squeal of surprise and dove as fast as she could from the room, nearly throwing herself off the landing, having to balance-teetering for a moment-on the rail. Remus and Sirius stumbled out after her a moment later, coughing and sputtering and waving their hands around in an attempt to clear the smoke.

Tonks looked at them with concern and thinly veiled amusement at the all around disgruntle looks on the two men's faces. "Are you two okay?" she enquired.

"Yeah, just-" Sirius began, but halted when he heard his own voice. Tonks's eyes widened and Remus looked at him as if he'd sprouted a second head. "...The hell?" Sirius squeaked.

"It seems—wow that feels strange—" Remus interjected, rubbing his throat. "It seems there was something in the powder that had some... unusual side effects." Tonks could only giggle at the helium voices.

* * *

" **Well, that appears to be every book on the list...** " Fudie announced, looking over the pile and cross-referencing them with the list she had nabbed from Xiefa once they entered. Speaking of which... " **Feimei, where is Xeifa?** "

" **She's been lost in the history section.** "

" **And You di?** "

" **He wandered off down the isle entitled 'Combat Magic'.** "

" **And Fanren?** "

" **I think she's over looking at the magazines.** "

" **Honestly, this family...** " Fudie gave a roll of her eyes. " **Alright, you go stand in line and pay for all this, I'll go see if I can't find the others.** "

Backtracking along the lengths of the isles that were stacked high with every type of book imaginable, Fudie headed for the history section first, knowing that her responsible younger sister by two years would be the most likely to agree to come away from the texts without causing undue stress while looking for the others.

* * *

Eriol sat at his study writing documents and double-checking forms when Sakura and Yukito poked their heads in. Turning to the daughter of his other half, he smiled welcomingly to her and her guardian. " _Um... we're going now, we'll be back in a few hours, okay?_ " Sakura announced.

" _Alright, have a safe trip; I'll see you when you get back. Is there anything you want for dinner?_ " he bid his farewells.

" _Anything would be fine. We'll see you when we get back!_ "

"Bye," Yukito added. Eriol just waved and returned to his paperwork.

"Oh, Yukito!" Eriol called just before the two had left his office. The grey-haired man poked his head back into the room for a moment. "You'll need wizarding money to buy things in Daigon Alley. Go ahead and just take what you need from my account. Yue should remember the vault number and particulars involved."

"All right. Thank you, Hiiragizawa-san," and with that final comment they left.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Kaho poked her head into the room and asked "Have you got the paperwork in order yet?"

"Yes, I've just finished. We'll also have one extra stop on our way home, Sakura-san hasn't given her reply yet so we'll be dropping that off for Professor Dumbledore as well," Eriol replied without looking up from the paperwork he was sorting.

"That's that weird house that's hard to find, isn't it?" Kaho questioned with a thoughtful finger to her lower lip, recalling the name of the English wizard.

"Yes, that's the one," Eriol confirmed, finally turning now that his documents were in order and looking the beautiful woman in the eye. "You don't mind, do you?"

Kaho shook her head carelessly. "No, not particularly, shall we be off?"

"Yes we shall." Eriol stood from his desk and exited the room with Kaho at his side. Stepping aside, Eriol detoured to the living room where Nakuru was sitting and watching TV. "Nakuru, Kaho and I are going out. We will be back in a few hours. You know what to do if someone comes to the door, right?"

"Don't let them in, and don't let them know there's not an adult here," Nakuru recited for her master.

"Alright, good job. We'll see you later."

"Have a safe trip, Eriol," Nakuru responded without even taking her eyes off the television.

* * *

10: 01 AM

Tonks had just barely managed to duck behind the door frame in time to avoid being seen as the twins stepped out of the room into the hallway where they had laid their trap. The three adults huddled together to hide as the loud and shocked voiced of the two identical red-heads filled the otherwise empty hall.

It had been pure genius, in her opinion, on Lupin's part to charm the floorboards with a temporary sticking charm that made the planks of wood stick to the bottom of the boy's feet. Stumbling and tripping over themselves as the boards lifted off the floor as they tried to escape the predicament the pranksters in hiding nearly couldn't contain their laughter as the clacking travelled further away.

* * *

After convincing Xiefa that she didn't need to buy a copy of every single book the store had, and managing to talk Xiao Lang out of giving a live demonstration of the spells he had found in the duelling books, and when Fanren was finally convinced that she really and truthfully didn't need to know all the latest fashion secrets of London witches for the upcoming fall season, the family of five made their way back into the streets.

" **So what now?** " the young heir asked, looking to his eldest two sisters who seemed intent on playing 'pass the list' between themselves every few minutes.

" **No worries, little cub, we're almost done. We need only to buy your potion supplies and a telescope for you and then we can be off for some lunch,** " Fudie insisted, striking a path through the crowd.

" **Don't call me that,** " he grumbled, following the eldest of them on her path. She lead them across the street to a store that had on display a variety of magical interments, some of which had an obvious function to them—such as scales or telescopes—while others were completely undefinable, many of which were comprised of intricate spirals of a silvery-coloured metal and had enough moving parts to be nearly considered optical illusions.

The sign out side indicated that they sold Hogwarts supplies and while the other three wandered over to examine the telescopes, Feimei caught hold of her brother's arm and the two youngest Li children headed inside " **If you're going to be taking a potions class, you're going to need a proper set of tools. Just leave that up to Jei jei here,** " she assured him, giving the arm linked with her own a light squeeze of reassurance.

Coming to a large section of shelving, covered floor to ceiling in scales of all sorts of material and accuracy readings, Feimei pulled a small bauble from her purse and began to carefully go through one by one each of the scales, adjusting knobs and moving weights before seemingly narrowing down her selection to a few choice options.

Having narrowed it down to ten choices, which she pulled from the shelves and lined up on the floor before her, she then returned the bauble and pulled out another, smaller one instead and repeated the process, this time discarding all but three of them. One last time, she dug into her purse and produced a tiny crystal-like bead. She fussed with this one the longest, going back and re-checking values on each of the scales several times over before finally deciding on the one to the far left.

" **These charms,** " she began, lifting the chosen scale delicately, " **are my personal weights. Exactly 100, 10, and 1 milligram respectively. This scale's 0.352 milligrams off on its calculations, but it's better than the other two. It's made of a platinum alloy and so can withstand a lot of heat. It's not magnetic, nor is it very reactive with anything, so it shouldn't mess with your readings at all, either.** "

" **That's wonderful, Mei mei, but the list clearly states that he's supposed to have brass scales...** " Xiefa spoke up when they two of them were joined by the other three, apparently also having finished selecting a telescope that they had found satisfactory for the young heir.

" **This one's better,** " she said, as if that were all the reasoning needed to disregard the school rules.

" **You di's supposed to-** " Xiefa began, but was cut off by the younger twin. This was, after all, the one and only point upon which Feimei could be horridly stubborn.

" **It's better. He'll get better results and get better marks with this one. No one will complain about the likes of that.** "

" **They will, seeing as it's against the rules.** "

" **Fine! Then you go find him a set of poor quality brass scales, but I'm still buying this one for You di!** " she insisted with determination. She marched stubbornly off to the glassware section where she instead began carefully measuring various pieces of different shaped and sized funnels, flasks, and beakers, mixing and matching them to give the results she desired.

* * *

10:21 AM

Ron paused on his entering the bathroom to see both his older brothers kneeling before the door, doing something to it that he'd rather not know about. They looked at him, he looked back, they held a finger to each of their mouths, and he sighed and nodded before turning and heading for the stairs down. He would have to remember not to use the fifth floor bathroom for the rest of the time he was here.

* * *

Sakura looked everywhere as she and her guardian stepped from the brick wall that moved and into the street. Her sea green eyes were alight as she looked up and down and all around herself, trying to take in every unusual sight and bright colour that the little alleyway afforded.

" _Hoe! Yuki, look at that! There's a broom shop over there! The witches really do ride on broomsticks! And oh! There's owls! I've never seen real live owls before!_ " she cheered.

Yukito gave a melodious chuckle at his young charge's exuberance, " _Yes, yes, and you'll see much more before the year is up, I promise you that, but first thing's first: to the bank!_ "

He took her hand in his own pale one and led her down the zigzagging alleyway. The swirling of bright, vibrant colours kept the excited child's head craning every which way. Busy witches and wizards hurried here and there, voices raised in an effort to talk over everyone else as they bartered prices and called out their wares.

Yet looming in the distance, dwarfing all the buildings around it, a tall marble building drew close. " _Here we are, the Gringotts Bank. You ready to get our money exchanged?_ "

" _What are those things standing by the door?_ " Sakura asked, pointing at the small figures with long fingers.

" _Those are goblins, a type of magical race,_ " Yukito explained. " _They can be rather dangerous if provoked, so stick close to me, okay?_ "

Sakura nodded and took a step closer to her guardian. " _Alright…_ "

* * *

By the time they finally exited the shop with two scale sets and a number more measuring instruments than the list called for, Xiao Lang found himself the owner of the makings of his own potions mastery set. No where, mind you, as extensive as that which Feimei had for her own personal potions laboratory back in Hong Kong, but it was a decent start.

The last stop of the day, the apothecary's was just a quick jump across the street from the cauldron shop. There was far less banging of heads when buying a cauldron as they located one with a good thickness and wide base for even heating. They had loaded the cauldron with the potion supplies listed as being required for the student to bring, and many of which had Feimei stopping to ponder on the use of.

They were local supplies, you see, not the ones found commonly in China that she was used to, and before they had left the shop she had secured from Xiao Lang's bags his potions text book and become so lost in reading it over that Fanren and Xiefa had to each take an arm and steer her along to walk as she read.

They left the alley through the Leaky Cauldron and surprised poor Mr. White when he saw the armloads of things they had accumulated from the dirty old tavern. After hurrying forward to help them with the big metal pot and then the books to get them all into the trunk, the glassware was wrapped and set on the floor of the back seats and all the people piled into the limo one after another with the only directions from Xiefa being to "take us somewhere decent to eat."

Thirty minutes later found the five of them sitting in a rather classy restaurant browsing the menus.

* * *

11:17 AM

As Fred and George stepped out of the tropical rainforest that had once been the east wing of the house, George turned to his brother and said "You know that was actually a pretty good one."

"Indeed. When this is over, we're definitely going to have to get them to tell us how they managed it," Fred agreed.

"Quite. But for the moment, what to do for revenge?"

* * *

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Mizuki, Mr. Hi—erm..." the teller staggered over how to pronounce the last name written on the papers as he handed them over to the woman.

"Eriol will do just fine, thank you," he responded, shaking hands with the man once more before getting up and exiting the bank with his 'legal guardian'.

She tucked the papers into her purse as they walked. "Are you sure you want to be doing this? Getting rid of all of it, I mean?"

"Yes... I have been the sole possessor for far too long and I really don't need it all, anyway. I still have the house here, and most the money, so it's not like there's going to be any problems or anything..." Eriol explained, slipping his hand silently into her own.

Observers were oblivious to the secret caresses of his thumb against her pale skin, to the gentle squeeze he felt around his hand as her fingers pushed their palms just that much closer. All they saw was what they wanted to see, a beautiful mother holding the hand of her handsome little son as they made their way down the street.

* * *

12:05 PM

The table sat in a tense silence. The bright yellow spots all over the twin's faces still continued to fuse and divide at random, and Tonks had taken the ring that screeched horridly off-key love songs from the start of the century and decided to wear it in her hair for the meal, just to torture everyone else in the room.

But other than that, there had been something of a truce called for the meal by order of one Mrs. Molly Weasley on the threat of hexing anyone who didn't bend to her rule with, and I quote, 'a curse so bloody horrifying that Merlin himself would faint away at the sight of it!'

Admittedly, for the sake of curiosity, all five participants in this little competition were on the edge of their seats, awaiting a moment where they could spring a trap for Molly. However, self-preservation and a mother's watchful eye had ensured their behaviour thus far.

* * *

Yukito carried his Mistress out of Gringotts piggy-back style. Her eyes were still spinning from all the twists and turns on the roller coaster-like ride to and from the vaults and when she had tried to get off had lost her balance and fallen over. So now she sat quite contentedly on his back and waited for the world to stop spinning at super sonic speeds.

" _So, what do you want to get first? Your wand? Your books? Your robes?_ "

" _I want a broom!_ " she suddenly announced, loosing all dizziness and becoming her usual hyper self in a flash.

" _But Sakura-chan, the letter says you can't have a broom until second year._ "

" _Awa... but witches are supposed to have brooms..._ " she pouted as Yukito let her back down on her feet once more.

" _How about we go get you your magic wand, instead?_ "

Sakura's face lit up again at once when he said that. " _Okay! I wonder what it will be like?_ "

After a few minutes further in which they wondered around looking for the wand shop, Yukito finally spotted a sign carved above the door of the last shop on the alley in weather-warn wood. Guiding Sakura into the dusty old shop, they eyed the tall dark shelves somewhat unsurely. There were rows upon rows of old boxes coated in dust and cobwebs stretched along the ceiling and in obscure corners. It gave the building an almost abandoned feel to it, and Sakura was quite sure that it would be haunted as well.

The Japanese duo would have exited for mistake of it being just a storage house if another family were not already standing and awaiting perches of their own new wand. The woman was willowy and pale and obviously of European decent. The boy, on the other hand, was from African ancestry with dreadlocks and warm black eyes. When he noticed how Sakura fidgeted nervously, he gave her a grin full of toothy confidence born of one who was totally at home in his surroundings. He bounced easily on the balls of his feet to the beat in his head that only he was privy to.

A moment later an old man with pale eyes and white hair stepped out from the back of the shelves and started slightly at the sight of Yukito and Sakura standing there. "I'll be with you in a moment, sir, miss." he told them before handing over the thin box he was carrying to the boy. The boy confidently took it out and gave it a quick wave, electing a sort of fizzle and a few puttered sparks and the old man took the wand back. "No, no… but no worries Mrs. Shacklebolt, we'll get your boy a fine wand, the right one for him is in here somewhere! The strongest wizards always take the longest to sort out, after all."

"Yes... if the number of times he's stolen his father's wand to play with it is any conciliation then we know he at least has a talent for charming cats green," the woman said, giving the boy a stern look and earning a bashful grin in response.

Olivander, for his part, gave a hearty laugh at this, "What pure-blooded boy hasn't at least once in his life gotten his hands on his parent's wands to try their hand at a bit of spell-work? No harm done in a little innocent curiosity."

It was another ten minutes before the boy, whose name had been revealed over the course of the conversation to be Lucas Shacklebolt, had been situated with his wand. (Elder wood, 10 inches, phoenix feather core, natural for transfiguration.) With a wave goodbye to Sakura, Lucas followed his mother out of the shop and Olivander then turned to Yukito and his charge.

"Well now, this is to be a busy year! Second family of sorcerers in as many days! Right this way, we'll find you your wand in back here, miss." Olivander stated, beckoning Sakura and Yukito to follow. “So what circle do you use?”

“ _Hoe?_ ” Sakura cooed out in her confusion, turning to look to Yukito for a translation.

“Sorry, she doesn't speak much English yet,” Yukito excused. “She uses an original circle, though I suppose Clow Reed's would be the closest for both of us.”

“Both of you?” Olivander parroted, eyeing the silvery haired teen as well.

“Yes, for appearance's sake I'll need a wand as well,” Yukito admitted, but didn't elaborate further.

“Well,” Mr. Olivander said, pulling four boxes from the shelf for the second time this week, “these are all the wands I have inscribed with Clow Reed's circle.”

They had barely been shown when Yukito's hand reached out and lifted one of the middle boxes. He was half way through bringing it back to himself when he seemed to blink and remember himself. “I'm sorry, I... do that some times. My body just seems to move on it's own.”

Mr. Olivander was staring hard at the box Yukito held, and without taking his eyes from it he said, “Well, may as well give it a wave.”

Yukito barely took the piece of wood from the container and already Olivander was nodding sagely. “I thought so, that one's yours alright, young man.” Yukito gave it a casual flick all the same and the room momentarily filled with what appeared to be moonbeams. “Birch, 9 ¾ inches, it's core is supposedly a feather of Clow Reed's own Moon Guardian, Yue.”

_So_ _that's_ _what he did with it,_ Yue's voice mused in the recesses of Yukito's head.

“And now for this young lady,” Olivander stated, eyeing the wands in his hand doubtfully for a moment longer. “How about this one? 6 and a half inches, maple wood with a core of erumpent tail hair, sturdy.”

Sakura took the offered wand carefully, having witnessed Olivander's habit of snatching them away from customers already. Sure enough, she had hardly taken it fully into her hands when it was removed again and replaced by another.

“12 inches exactly, made of hawthorn with a core of a mermaid spine?” Olivander tried.

This time Sakura was at least able to swish the wand before he took it away. It was replaced once more by a long thin stick.

“This one's one of my personal favourites. An astounding 14 inches long, reed wood. It has a core of phoenix tail feather,” Olivander rattled off, though it meant nothing to Sakura who couldn't understand him.

Like the previous two wands, Sakura took the wand when it was offered to her and waved it as she had watched the boy, Lucas, do earlier. And once more, there was no reaction from the wand. Understanding that this one was also a no, she offered it back to the man who seemed strangely unsurprised.

His misty eyes bore into the young Card Mistress in a judging fashion for a long moment before he seemed to come to a decision. “If you would, miss, may I see this original circle of yours?”

When Yukito was kind enough to translate for him, Sakura beamed sweetly at the old man, “ _Hai!_ ” she cheered. After a moment more of concentration, the floor lit with a light that seemed to darken the rest of the room in comparison. 

Finally, when the light dimmed and faded away, it was to the old man nodding to himself sagely. “I thought so. One moment, please.” Olivander turned on his heal and marched to a secluded corner of the smaller room.

Upon his return, Sakura let out a gasp at what she saw adorned on the side of the box. “ _Yuki, look!_ ” There, on the end of the dusty box was Sakura's own personal star circle painted meticulously in gold, faded with age. 

“I believe, miss, that this belongs to you,” he said as he presented Sakura with the box. “I had my suspicions when you mentioned the young lady's unusual circle, and more so when you picked the wand you did, sir.”

“Really? Why would my wand lead you to such a conclusion?” Yukito questioned.

“Because, these are two of five wands that were specially requested some sixty years ago by a man claiming to be Clow Reed. After the events of this week, I believe I am more inclined to believe him. Of the five wands he requested, four have found their partners: a young lady who ought to be in her seventh year at Hogwarts by now, a young gentleman who came by just yesterday to pick up a wand so he may start his first year, yourself... and this young lady, now sporting a cherry wood wand of 12 ½ inches with a dual core of a white feather and a silver hair that rather resembled a veela's. The last sits there, the reed wand,” the old man indicated towards the three remaining boxes sitting on the floor.

“I may not be a seer, but my old age has given me a foresight in it's own right. If that wand is not collected by the end of this summer, bound for Hogwarts, I will be very surprised. Something is brewing, it is about to begin, and you had best be sure that you and the young lady are ready for it.”

* * *

1:38 PM

The knock on the door caused the three adults to eye each other, both curious and weary of what the twins could be up to by setting such an obvious trap. When the knock rang a second time, Remus shrugged in defeat and went to open the door. It's not like they wouldn't get back at whatever the twins were up to, after all.

However, when the door opened to reveal the Asian woman from the other day, Remus's heart took a leap into his throat at the unexpected surprise. Their eyes met for a moment as each took in the other's features in recognition, and then she smiled at him like she was truly happy to see him. "Oh, hello again. I'm sorry if I was interrupting something, I just came by to drop this off..." she announced lifting up yet another mysterious letter.

Remus could feel himself heat up with a flush worthy of a first year at her charming smile. "Ah, yeah—er, no. No, nothing at all, just cleaning," Remus stammered out, mentally he shook himself to try and clear his mind of the odd daze it seemed to have fallen into at this point. "Um, thank you. I'll give it to Dumbledore when I see him, Miss..."

"Mizuki."

"I'm Remus. Remus Lupin."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lupin," she said with a slight bow. "I must be going now."

"Oh, ah, of course. Have a good day."

"And a good day to you, too."

When Remus closed the door again and turned back around, his heart froze solid. Sirius was grinning. At him. And it wasn't one of his friendly grins, either. "I think someone's in loo-ooove..." the dog-man snickered out. Remus's face only grew redder.

At the end of the street, Eriol stepped from around the tree he had been waiting by and to Kaho's side. " _Did you give them the letter?_ " he asked, more out of politeness than an actual need to be told.

" _Yes. Is it normal for werewolves to be affected by our magic fields?_ " Kaho asked conversationally.

" _Quite often, yes. It depends on how long they've been a werewolf, of course, but on the whole the virus that turns them into a magical beast once a month is also enough of an influence to make them part of magic, and therefore more susceptible,_ " Eriol lectured knowledgeably.

" _I see..._ "

" _Oh? So am I now doomed to fall into horrid fits of jealousy and vengeance due to my lady fair finding comforts in the arms of another man?_ " the small sorcerer asked, with feigned innocence.

" _Oh..._ _really_ _Eriol, you can be such a tease..._ " Kaho scolded through her laughter.

" _When did you see that he was a werewolf?_ " Eriol asked conversationally, as they began their walk home.

" _Last night. I wasn't sure if it was him, because it came as just a series of flashes at the time. Him, and others, including a werewolf running around that school… it wasn't until just now when he opened the door that I saw a clear image of his transformation._ "

Eriol nodded sagely at this. " _Do you think it was from the past, or the future that you were looking?_ " he prompted, falling into the role of mentor to his lovely apprentice.

" _It seemed like a mixture, like an introduction to the important information necessary to understand something that is yet to come…_ " the young seer expressed.

" _I see. Well, if your sight indicated that they would be players in some future event, you had best keep an eye on them so you can decide what course of action is right for you to take,_ " Eriol advised.

" _Yes, I understand._ "

* * *

" **Oh, dear, look at the time! We really should be getting back to that alleyway soon...** " Fudie commented as she eyed her watch.

" **Why? We already finished all the shopping,** " Feimei pointed out, not interested in such rickety looking shops when the rest of London had wonderful designer clothing and expensive perfume and jewelry to be browsing instead.

" **Yes, but we did agree that You di needs as much time in among their magic as he can get during the days so that he can be used to the chaos of it in time for classes,** " Xiefa pointed out, pulling out her credit card from her purse.

" **I know it's the smart thing to do, but I really don't want to right now...** " Xiao Lang grumbled, still not over the headache he had from spending the morning there.

" **I know, but it's been over two hours already and the shops will begin closing before too much longer. And this time we can go and look in other shops and find something you may find enjoyable. How would you like that?** " Fudie pointed out to him.

" ***Sigh...* Yeah, fine. I doubt there'll be anything, but it's definitely worth looking,** " Xiao Lang agreed.

" **Good. And if nothing else, we can always head back to the book store and you can get lost again in the combat magic section,** " Xiefa teased. And with that decided, the five Li siblings exited the restaurant and headed out to the limo once more where Mr. White drove them back to the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

" _Okay, so now that getting our wands are out of the way, how about we work our way back up the street to finish up the shopping trip?_ " Yukito suggested as he and his Mistress exited Olivanders. He had already stowed his own wand away in one of his pockets while Sakura walked next to him, lazily waving her wand and enjoying the sight of the sparkles that drifted down from the tip.

" _Okay! That'll work!_ " Sakura happily agreed, placing her hand in his so that he could steer her to the next shopping destination without her having to look away from the silver and pink glitter ejecting itself out the end of her new stick.

With that agreed on, Yukito lead his young charge back up the street, passed the bank, and into a cutesy little robe shop called Madam Malkin's.

* * *

2:06 PM

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny lay on their stomachs at the top of the stairs while they watched the mayhem down below. Quite some time ago it had been agreed that by far the safest thing to do until this little pranking war had run its course was to hide away and not touch anything anywhere.

Old Mundungus had been up here earlier and had set up a bet with Ginny and the boys over who would win. Ron and Ginny had both bet on their brothers, insisting that they knew just how stubborn the two were and that they wouldn't give up until they won. Harry had to go with Sirius and Lupin, who he knew from stories were veteran pranksters along with his dad from back when they were all teens in Hogwarts. Hermione could not be enticed to join, insisting that such bets were not only futile but also a waste of money.

That had been close to an hour ago, though. After Dung had gotten the bets off them he had said he didn't much feel like sticking around and getting covered in feathers or anything and so had apparated away shortly afterwards. They had since then seen a couple of things more interesting than just feathers show up, including the one that had Ginny giggling to the point of tears. Fred had somehow been cursed to belch fire, and had decided to put on a performance for them by belching the alphabet and ended up accidentally setting Mrs. Black's curtains on fire which had caused a good deal of noise and chaos.

It was just then that Mr. Weasley came up the steps and stopped next to the children. "Hello kids! And what are you all doing here?"

"Hi dad," came the chorus from his children while Harry and Hermione added in an echo of "Hi Mr. Weasley" for their part. Then Ginny took it solo and continued the explanation. "We're hiding so that we don't get dragged in to the pranking war."

"Ah, I see..." Mr. Weasley murmured out.

"Yeah, we figured its safest not to move around or touch anything until that lot has gotten it out of their system," Harry added.

"Hmmm... Smart plan!" and so Mr. Weasley lowered himself down to the floor beside them and struck up a conversation about how vacuum cleaners work with Hermione.

* * *

Getting the robes done had been surprisingly quick, Sakura proved to be a very efficient model after all the times that Tomoyo had insisted on her dressing up and trying on clothes. And the design of the robes was simple and clean cut, with the only problem arising in the fact that Sakura was slightly smaller than most the children who came in to try on robes.

However, with the problem quickly righted, leaving her with a slightly baggy set as it was the smallest size of uniform they had, they had paid the money and were off to the next building over to buy books. There were several stands set up out front of the store that were made to promote a specific book over the others. There was a towering collection piled up in the shape of a castle, and another spot where the books were flapping around and required being tethered to the table to stop them from flying away. And still another set that were in a thick metal cage with warning signs all around them to keep back. These books snarled and snapped at everything with sharp teeth and one would occasionally lunge at the bars causing the whole cage to rattle.

" _Hooeeeee... look at all of them! There's so many!_ " Sakura breathed out in awe.

" _Indeed there are. Come inside, now, though. The books you need are in here,_ " Yukito gently prompted, leading his mistress within the little building.

Sakura jumped in surprise as she stepped through the doors of the little shop and somehow entered a three-story building that was larger and had more books in it than she had ever seen before in her life. Confused by the physics of it, she quickly hurried back outside and looked again to see the small stature that held the huge library.

" _Sakura-chan?_ " Yukito questioned as he stepped back out to be with her.

" _From the outside it's little but inside it's huge! Yuki, which one is real and which is the illusion spell?_ "

Yukito's eyes grew distant as he listened to an internal knowledge for a moment before speaking. " _It's not an illusion, it's compressed space, like The Maze. It's much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside because space has been folded in on itself here._ "

" _Wizard magic can do that?_ " Sakura asked in amazement.

" _Yes, that's one of many things their spells can accomplish,_ " Yukito reassured.

" _Hoe..._ " Sakura whispered on the edge of boiling over with excitement. Being lead inside once more with an eagerness to be impressed, the little sorceress followed her guardian's lead without question. He grabbed a cart and they walked up and down the isles, him browsing the titles for the books on the list while she pushed the cart.

They had gotten nearly two thirds of the way through the book list when they were forced to stop momentarily. A small furrow creased Yukito's brow as he stared up at the Standard Book of Spells: Grade One on the top shelf. While it's location would be no problem for a Caucasian adult customer, Yukito had the height of an average Asian woman, and so the bottom of the top shelf was still a few inches higher than his hand could reach.

Worrying his bottom lip for a moment, Yukito turned to his charge. " _Sakura-chan, you wait here with the cart for a moment, I'm going to see if I can't find an employee to assist us._ "

" _Hai! I'll be good!_ " Sakura assured, watching Yukito walk away with a resigned shake of his head.

Having nothing better to do while she waited, Sakura's eyes scanned the displays set up at the end of each isle. One display had a poster above it of some blond man in purple who was fighting what looked like a big mean dog-man. Another display had a big pink and green sign above it with bold golden writing that scrolled through. Sakura amused herself for several moments attempting to translate the revolving message:

_Make your Dreams become Reality! Transfiguration's Guide to Creating Everything you Ever Wished to Make! Twelve Easy Steps to Making the Ordinary become the Extraordinary!_

And then the message would start again. Though Sakura couldn't understand the full meaning of all the words, she could understand enough to get the general gist of everything said. _A book that can make anything you want appear?_ "Hoeee..."

It was only a moment or two later when Yukito came back trailing after a tall young woman. " _I'm back, Sakura-chan. Sorry to keep you waiting,_ " the silver haired young man called out, causing his Mistress to turn and face him.

Smiling brightly at him, Sakura responded. " _Welcome back, Yuki! Look at that book over there! It says it can tell you how to make anything you want!_ " the young girl announced excitedly.

"Hmm?" Yukito questioned, glancing up at the display and reading the sign a moment before smiling fondly.

Before he had a chance to correct her, the lady he was walking with turned and asked him "Standard Book of Spells, right? First year?"

"Yes, that's correct. I am sorry that we are an inconvenience," Yukito said sweetly, taking the book from her as she pulled it off the shelf.

"Oh," she giggled, "not at all. It's rather silly of them to put a first year Hogwarts book on the top shelf, after all..."

"Thank you very much for your assistance," Yukito acknowledged with a slight bow.

"Thank you very much," Sakura mimicked.

The young lady blushed at being bowed to for only getting a book down and giggled again in her nervousness. "N-no, really. No problem. H-have a nice day."

"You too," Yukito agreed, waving to the employee as she left.

"Have nice day!" Sakura parroted once more. Then when the young lady was out of sight, she turned once more to Yukito. " _May we get the everything book, too? It would be very useful!_ " she insisted.

" _Oh, Sakura-chan. It doesn't really make everything, it's just a figure of speech. A sales gimmick, you understand?_ " Yukito explained, smiling at her innocence.

" _Hoe? You mean it doesn't teach you to make things appear?_ "

" _No, I'm sorry,_ " Yukito explained. " _Should we continue with our shopping now?_ "

" _Hai,_ " she responded, taking hold of the cart once more and they continued on their way. Before rounding the corner, however, Sakura turned one last time to look at the display. _It would be nice though,_ she thought, _a book that could create anything you wanted..._

Unnoticed to either Sorceress or Guardian was the faintly growing of a magic circle where the young Card Mistress had stood a moment before. A slow swirl, compressing the magic in the locally charged atmosphere, condensing it into a solid form. A small rectangular paper spun suspended within the empty space above the slowly fading circle. Then, as if making up its mind, it floated over gently to the revolving stand which had a number of notebooks and diaries within it.

The card glowed for a moment, then stretched and pulled in all three dimensions until it became a pretty little pink book and settled itself innocently in behind a blue diary.

* * *

Xiao Lang gently tapped the glass tank holding the silvery multi-legged tweezers causing the skittering instruments to converge on the location his hand hovered by. "Weird... what are they?" he asked the shop owner of the grubby store the Li children had found in an off-shooting alley to the main Daigon Alley. This side alley was far less populated, and so it was easier on Xiao Lang to keep his head strait.

The owner, who had been eyeing the expensive silks and jewels on the Asian group since they came in, swooped in on the young boy with all the air of a car salesman. "Ah, those are Remote Potion Injectors."

"Oh, assassination tools. Curious country, Britain, that a common little shop vender would be selling such things out in the open..." Xiefa noted, looking in at the skittering instruments.

"Oh, no! Not at all, miss!" the shop keeper quickly insisted. "They're medical tools used for patients with highly dangerous and contagious diseases."

"Yuck! They look like spiders! Who would buy something like that?" Fanren squirmed and pulled a face showing exactly what she thought about such things. "Forget it; I'm going for ice cream. Come on, Feimei."

"B-but...!" the youngest of the girls whined as she was pulled from the shelf advertising vials of blood collected from a wide variety of rare magical animals and even humans.

"We're going with them. Don't get yourself poisoned by the metal spiders, You di," Fudie called to the heir as she and Xiefa followed the twins out of the shop.

"Yeah, yeah," he waved his sisters off without really hearing them. "Hey old man, how do these things work, anyway?"

"Ah, you see this glass bubble here in the centre? You place the potion within there, and then levitate the injector into the room and set it down on the patient's bed. And when it detects a hot surface touching it, it will use the needle seen there on the bottom of the injector to dispense the potion and will then return all on it's own to its registered case."

"Oh, so it's thermosensitive, huh? But how?"

The shopkeeper blinked at the unfamiliar terminology. "Pardon? I-I just told you: you put the potion in the-"

"No, no! I mean how does it know where the heat is? How does it move around like that? How does it know where to come back to?" Xiao Lang explained himself, rather irately.

"I'm sorry, little boy, but those are professional secrets..." the shopkeeper insisted.

Xiao Lang gave him a long, penetrating glare. "...You're not very smart, are you?"

* * *

Sakura yawned.

This fact to most people would seem inconsequential and unnecessary to note or elaborate on. However, for Yukito and more exactly Yue who resided within Yukito, Sakura's existence was the world's primary concern. She rubbed at her eye with one little fist and Yue exclaimed that something must be wrong because it was only the middle of the day. Yukito countered that thought almost immediately with the problems of jet lag for beings that actually require rest regularly to function rather than just as a boost to help restore their magic levels.

Still, Yukito smiled down at his boyfriend's little sister. " _Feeling a bit tired?_ "

" _I'm okay,_ " replied Sakura, " _we've just been doing lots of stuff today._ "

Yukito glanced up just in time to see a sign indicating an ice cream parlour and got an idea. " _Why don't we stop and have some ice cream before we continue, shall we?_ " Sakura brightened up at once at the promise of the sweet treat and nodded empathically. Yukito laughed and lead her into the small shop and over to the counter. " _What would you like?_ " he asked.

Sakura examined every flavour on display before choosing one that was chocolate with swirls of caramel and candies in it. Yukito just ordered a simple triple scooped strawberry flavoured cone and placed their orders. It was when they were just walking out the door that they nearly ran in to four teens in fancy Chinese silk. "Oh, excuse us," Yukito apologized with a slight bow.

"Excuse!" parroted Sakura, who also bowed.

"Oh, no, no. It's quite alright. We weren't watching where we were going either," The lady in green exclaimed, bowing slightly in return.

In the background, the twin in blue leaned over to her counter part in gold and whispered " **He's kinda cute, isn't he?** "

Yukito flushed upon hearing this comment. " **Thank you. I think,** " he responded.

" **You speak Cantonese?** " the young woman in red questioned, sounding minorly impressed. " **But your features, aren't you Japanese?** "

" **Some, yes. I've picked it up over the years.** " Yukito replied. The girl in blue looked rather embarrassed about her comment now that she knew she had been understood. Taking pity on her, Yukito changed the subject quickly. "You young ladies wouldn't happen to know where we might be able to purchase a cauldron, would you?"

The young lady in green pointed back towards the mouth of the alley. "They're right next to the entrance, across from the apocrathary," she informed them.

"Thank you." Yukito said, bowing once more and pulling at Sakura's hand to lead her away. She bowed a quick goodbye over her shoulder and hurried off at his heals.

When they were out of sight, the four girls turned among themselves. " **Now they were cute,** " Xiefa announced to her sisters.

" **That little girl had the most adorable hair cut!** " squealed Fanren.

" **I wonder who he was...** " Feimei mused.

" **I wonder who both of them were,** " Fudie countered. " **He was impressive, sure, but that kid... I've never felt anyone who draws people so strongly. She is powerful as hell to even have that sort of effect on us in such a surrounding.** "

" **You think she might be going to Hogwarts with You di?** " Feimei asked.

" **It's probable, due to her age. We should inform Mu qin about this when we get back home.** " Xiefa decided. With that settled the four Li girls entered the parlour and ordered their ice cream, getting an extra chocolate one for their brother, before heading back to find him once more.

They arrived back on location down the little side alley to find him being hauled out of the shop by a smouldering, irate shop owner who had hold of the scruff of his neck. "That is it! Out, out, out! No more questions, no more spell work, get out and don't come back!"

* * *

3:48 PM

The werewolf and the two cousins sat around a scrap of paper covered with quick scribbles of illegible words and overly-simplified diagrams to the point that the diagrams became complicated. "So we're all good on the plan?" Padfoot asked the other two.

"I know my part!" Tonks practically cheered, holding up her hand.

"These kids won't know what hit them." Moony smirked, looking coy and fiddling with his wand. "Let's begin, shall we?" he prompted the other two, raising a brow and turning his head slightly to the left in order to emphasize that they should get moving.

However, before the three could do more than stand from their crouching positions, the Weasley twins threw themselves against the banisters above, and pulled a cast-and-dash on the adults below them. As they heard the twins laughing voices float farther down the hall, the cousins and werewolf all looked among themselves at each other.

It had been some sort of jumbled up transfiguration spell, giving them a multitude of random animal parts which included toucan beaks, large mouse ears, frog limbs and... Remus blinked. "What type of animal has that kind of tail do you suppose?"

"I think it's a zebra..." Sirius responded.

While Tonks clicked her beak experimentally, and sashayed her hips back and forth to get her new tail to wag, Sirius reached into his pocket with his newly webbed hands and pulled out his wand to begin removing the partial transfigurations on his kid cousin and pack brother.

* * *

The door to the Reed Mansion swung open to reveal to Eriol and Kaho a state of chaos. Apparently, some point in time during the day while everyone was out, Kero and Nakuru had decided to turn the grand entrance way into a fort, having moved many of the blankets and tables into the room and propped them up to build their play house with. The broom from the kitchen had even been taken and stuck up on top with one of Nakuru's shirts tied to it like a flag.

"Ah, it seems as though the children have been having fun while we were out..." Eriol commented, not the least bit concerned for the state of the antique furniture.

"So they have. Is that your bedside table?" Kaho commented, walking around the construction so not to disturb it.

"Indeed it is; you have a good eye," Eriol smiled. From the far room, the sound of music, shouting, and laughter could be heard. From the conversation it sounded as though Nakuru and Kero were battling it out in some sort of fighting game on Nakuru's gaming system. And if the occasional thuds and screams of despair were any indication, they were getting very into the game, re-enacting powerful moves and painful death scenes in the living room.

The door to the study cracked open on it's own for a moment before a small black and blue kitten floated through, with a look of pure torment and pleading on his face. "Eriol..." Spinel whined, "they've been noisy all day. I can't even hear myself think..."

"Oh... there, there, Spinel. Do you have a headache?" Eriol asked, plucking his sun guardian from the air and cradling him in his arms.

"No," Spinel admitted, rubbing the side of his face against his master's chest. "Just bored. And annoyed. I can't concentrate with all this racket. How am I supposed to read with them running in and out screaming all day?"

"Alright, Spinel. I'll make everything better," Eriol told him lovingly. He stepped over and pulled one of the blankets from the abandoned fort and laid it over his shoulder then went into his study and cast a quick wind spell to float an odd dozen or so of Clow Reed's old journals and make them follow him.

Going into the back yard, he laid the blanket on the ground, the books and Spinel floating around and watching in varying levels of curiosity. He beckoned the books and guardian onto the blanket, and then cast a shell of silence over the whole thing. "There, now. Is that better?"

"Yes. Thank you, Eriol," Spinel said, making himself comfortable on the spread and levitating one of the books over to read.

When he was sure his guardian was comfortable at last, Eriol moved from the dome and back into the house. In the entry way he found that Kaho had already put the children to work cleaning up their fort and so merely stepped past rather than interrupt their conversation about the fighting game and who had beaten who more often.

He paused mid-step by the foot of the stairs when he saw Kaho standing at the top of the stairwell watching him, but she merely smiled adoringly at him and so he returned the expression and continued up to join her. "The children are all well occupied and shan't be wanting attention for a while..." he spoke quietly, holding out his arm to the woman he loved.

She smiled coyly in response. "And you wish to take advantage of that fact, do you?"

Still, she placed her hand on his forearm and let herself be lead away down the hall.

* * *

Sakura stepped from the cauldron shop, eyes bright and arms laden with purchases. She was so excited about going to Hogwarts. There were so many amazing things in this alleyway alone; she couldn't even begin to imagine all the amazing things she would be seeing for the rest of the year.

Suddenly her vision tunnelled and noise cut out of her world. She swooned, trying to stay on her feet, and felt a hand reach out and steady her. Familiar, warm, and accompanied by a worried voice that somehow cut through the spinning of her head. " _Sakura! Sakura, daijoubu?_ "

" _...Yuki..._ " she asked weakly. A few startled passer-bys had stopped as well, one boy of chunky build in his mid teens was even being nice enough to help gather up the contents of the bags that had spilled when Sakura had dropped them. She opened her eyes to see his concerned gold eyes looking down at her from where he stood, half holding her upright.

" _Oh, thank goodness. You nearly passed out on your feet. How are you feeling?_ " he pressed her, kneeling down and sitting her on his knee until he was sure she was better. Her face was pale and her skin clammy.

" _Gomen ne, Yuki. I'm just really sleepy. It must be the jet lag..._ " Sakura tried to excuse. " _I'll be better after some rest, I promise._ "

Yuki looked like he wanted to argue the matter for a moment before relinquishing to her will. " _Alright. We've finished shopping, so let's hurry and get back ho-er, to Eriol's house. You can rest there._ "

"Is she alright?" the lad asked, stacking the last of the bags upright by Yukito's side.

"Yes, thank you. She's just suffering from sleep deprivation," Yukito responded, though he didn't sound too very sure himself.

An elderly witch in green robes with a red handbag and a stuffed vulture on her hat pushed her way through the small crowd and stood over the boy. "What is the hold up?" she demanded curtly.

"Oh, Grandmother. This girl fainted, I was just helping pick their stuff up..." he replied.

Giving a curt nod, the elderly witch pulled out her wand and with three sharp swishes all their possessions shrunk and stacked themselves smartly into the cauldron sitting at Yukito's side. "That ought to do it. Now, young man, make sure that girl is taken to St. Mungo's strait away. We can't have some strange epidemic spreading throughout all of Daigon Alley, now, can we?"

"Yes, thank you ma'am," Yukito said, supporting Sakura's shoulders as he gave an awkward bow beside her.

It took a bit of effort on his part, and Sakura fussed that it wasn't the least bit necessary, but Yue was insistent that the Mistress mustn't come to any harm and so Yukito managed both carrying her piggyback style and her schooling supplies out to the front curb where he called for a taxi. He probably would not have managed if it weren't for the assistance the old witch had provided in shrinking their possessions to fit in one container, but he did all the same.

* * *

4:25 PM

Hermione was busy reviewing old textbooks, refreshing the course material from the year before, and insisting that it was never too early to start studying for OWLs. Harry, Ron, and Ginny on the other hand were spending their day off of cleaning house in a much more practical way: Exploding Snap.

This serene scene of average adolescence was disrupted by a combined cry of the Weasley twins calling for "GINNY!"

The youngest Weasley nearly got knocked off the landing as both her boxily built brothers ploughed into her with a running tackle. It took a minute for anyone's mind to catch up with the events taking place and once they did, they wished they hadn't. For where usually they would expect to see two gruff-looking Gryffindor Beaters with matching grins worthy of perpetually naughty toddlers, they instead found long ringlets of red held up in pigtails by lace bows, full length poufy dresses in pink and lavender trimmed with beaded pearls, and painted faces in a 1920's style.

"What... the... hell...?" Ron finally spoke for everyone present.

"Oh, isn't it just wonderful?" gushed Fred in a falsely high voice, pulling out a fan and waving it in front of his face while batting his elongated eyelashes at his little brother.

"Black and Lupin did something fun this time!" George chimed in in matching tone, continuing to rub his cheek against his little sister's, smudging his blush all over the side of her face.

"It was a marvellous idea..." Fred insisted once more.

"Now Ginny won't be alone any more!"

"Isn't that wonderful?"

"Now that we can all be sisters, we can exchange clothes..."

"And do each other's hair..."

"And make up..."

"And Ron and the others can have this happen to them, too!"

"Yes, and then we can be the Seven Weasley Sisters!"

By this point in time Ginny and Hermione were both laughing quite hard at the boy's antics and Harry was only able to sit in stunned silence that the twins wouldn't be too embarrassed to even dare showing their faces while dressed like that. Ron, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly how to take to that last line. Pushing himself away from them until his back was pressed against the wall behind him, he held his wand in their direction and threatened, "Try it, and die."

* * *

The day had proven to be rather eventful as a whole for the five Li siblings. Twice more they had been chased from shops along the side alley because of Xiao Lang's pestering of the owners. These people did not seem too comfortable discussing their merchandise in too great of detail, nor were they very willing to divulge their sources in acquiring said wares.

But it was getting late, and they had spent most the day here wandering up and down the two alleyways. So when Fanren began whining that she was getting hungry, they all agreed that it was time to call it a day. Now, as they made their way back out to the muggle part of London, they bickered back and forth on where they ought to eat.

" **We're in England! We should take advantage of that and have a real British meal,** " Fudie insisted.

" **I want pizza. We should go find somewhere that we can order pizza at!** " Fanren announced.

" **Pizza? In these clothes? Are you out of your head?** " Feimei complained, indicating their high-class dresses and expensive ornamentation.

" **Rich people can like pizza too...** " Fanren grumbled.

" **We are not going for pizza,** " Xiao Lang piped up, intent to nip the insuring argument at the bud.

" **You can order a pizza to our room when we get back to the hotel, if you want it so badly,** " Xiefa added, backing her brother up.

" **Oh, fine,** " Fanren huffed, being outranked by the other two.

" **If we are to be going out, we ought to go somewhere with class,** " Fudie insisted once more.

" **We** **always** **go to places 'with class', I want to have fun for once!** " Fanren whined.

" **Fanren's right, we always have to play to the crowds back home. But no one here knows who we are! So can't we just this once slum it? Even if just a little?** " Feimei begged.

" **We should go to a common restaurant,** " Xiao Lang interjected. " **A stake house, or an Italian place. I don't much care which, but I'm sort of in the mood for pasta.** "

Xiefa and Fudie looked to each other, Xiefa shrugged and Fudie responded with a sigh. " **Very well. An Italian restaurant it is...** "

* * *

6:37 PM

The day was slowly marching onwards into evening inside Grimmauld Place. The mounted House Elf heads still occasionally pulled a face as you wandered past them, and the children still sat together playing exploding snap on the landing in order to keep out of the way. However, the pent up energies of the four tricksters locked within these walls was finally beginning to subside after a full day's worth of play.

Sirius reached down and ruffled Harry's hair in passing, earning a half-hearted protest from his god son as he, Remus, and Tonks turned and made their way down one of the halls towards the twins' room. There was a faint zap sound as Sirius stepped down and what felt like a static shock jolted up his spine followed by a quiet pop. Both Remus and Tonks turned to see what caused the sound and broke into laughter at the sight.

A slightly dazed Sirius stood with every long black strand of hair on his whole head standing on end. The afro-like style easily reached from one end of the hall to the other. Sirius pulled a face at their amused reactions as he prodded gently at his ridged locks of gravity defying hair. "They're solid... there's no give to them at all..." he informed the other two.

"There's no way with all that hair you'll ever manage to get through the door," Remus pointed out around a snicker.

"So, you think this is funny, do you?" Sirius asked with a growl. It was his 'I'm pretending to be angry at you now' look, so Moony wasn't the least concerned.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I find this quite amusing!" Remus replied with a confident nod. Sirius pulled his smile that always meant trouble, but Remus stood his ground. That is, until Sirius snatched him by the arm and tugged the startled wolf into the spell effect as well.

As Remus stood and tested the lengths of his hair, Sirius and Tonks gave out a hearty laugh. "Ah, I see what you mean; this is quite a funny situation!" Sirius cheered.

"How very mature of you..." Remus sneered through a smile, sticking his tongue out at his childhood friend.

"How very mature of both of you," Tonks pointed out at their childish behaviour. She realized her mistake in pulling attention to herself when the two canine Marauders eyed her hair and then exchanged side-long glances and smirks growing on their lips as Remus once more tilted his head as a signal that they should begin.

Taking a quick step back out of their easy reach, Tonks held up her hands as if to ward them off. Padfoot cocked an eyebrow at her; Moony lowered his head down between his shoulders. Holding up one finger in the pose of a street performer, Tonks brought her thumb to her mouth and blew as if she were blowing on a whistle. Suddenly, her short pink hair stood on end all by itself. "Ta-daaaa...!" she said once she was done metamorphing herself.

Both men began laughing, which she quickly joined in on, as they laughed at each other and themselves for a good five minutes. Today had been fun. Now if they could only figure out how to get through the door like this, so that they could continue on their way...

* * *

" **Let's go, oh dearest prodigy...** " Xiefa teased.

" **Don't call me that,** " Xiao Lang growled angrily.

" **Xiao Lang? Are you alright?** "

" **No.** "

Xiefa slipped farther into the room, closing the door behind her so the others wouldn't eavesdrop so easily. She came up to his bed, which she could only barely see in the dark room. She sat down at his side and ran her fingers tenderly through his hair. " **What's wrong, You di?** " she asked, voice full of motherly compassion.

" **I'm not worthy of leading the Clan!** " he cried, " **I'm no good at anything!** "

Xiefa was rather surprised by this, where had this new line of thought suddenly sprouted from? " **Don't be ridiculous! You're the young heir, the product of generations of breeding, you-** "

" **Right!** " Xiao Lang insisted, when he looked up at her, she saw tears in his eyes and noticed that he had that little pink teddy bear in his arms again.

She blinked at him. Did this bear have something to do with what he was on about? " **Okay, you've lost me.** "

" **I was supposed to be this great prodigy, this miracle child produced by the ultimate breeding plan, and yet when I was faced with the task of retrieving the Clow Cards, I couldn't do anything! I was useless! A rankless nobody out-shined me in every aspect...** " He choked on a sob of guilt and shame, but continued to talk anyway, feeling relief in finally getting it off of his chest. " **I couldn't even help, I was nothing! She took everything that I was supposed to be, and she did it so sweetly, with such a nice smile, that I can't even be mad at her!** "

" **Do you blame yourself for not hating her?** "

" **I'm supposed to hate her! I'm expected to... But she's so... and just... how could I do anything other then fall in love...** "

" **Is she really that wonderful?** " Xiefa asked. " **You have always been someone who had an untouchable heart; you never smiled, and hardly even talked unless you were being forced to. You were always kind, helping anyone who lived, but you never felt anything beyond a sense of duty. For someone to so completely gain your love, I have to be impressed with her and love her myself.** "

" **I'm not kind, I'm selfish! I've always done everything for myself. But not her, she was always helping people, thinking of others, and didn't even need a reason to do so, she just did it. Even me; no matter how mean I was or what I did to her she always looked at me with that smile and did her best to help me in whatever it was that I wanted. She was** **always cheering for me, even if I was against her...** "

" **Is that what your type is? I can see how you could fall for someone like that. I envy you for finding such a girl.** "

" **It doesn't matter, nothing will come of it. I'm going to be at Hogwarts for the next seven years, how could I even think of asking her to do something like wait for me? There are too many people who love her, it's too impractical. And even if by some chance I could talk her into waiting, and she did wait, and everything else went wonderfully, the Elders would never agree to such a union, and I have to live for the Clan, not for myself.** "

Xiefa was silent for a while, not really sure what she wanted to say. Finally, she said the only bit of comfort she could manage to think of. " **And that, You di, is why you are the perfect candidate for Clan Leader. You will forever put the people first, even above yourself. And as much as I hate seeing you do it, it is what is for the best, and it is the mark of a true and wonderful leader,** " and with that she stood and left her brother's room.

She came out to the impatient faces of the other three sisters. " **It took you long enough!** " grumbled Fanren.

" **Where is he?** " Fudie asked suspiciously.

" **He's meditating. He'll come down later to join us when he's done,** " Xiefa explained.

" **That was a long time to be in there to tell us that much...** " Feimei pointed out, smelling gossip that she wasn't being involved in.

" **I'm hungry, let's go,** " was all Xiefa replied with, making it clear to all that she wasn't going to indulge their curiosity.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is 18 pages (over 13,000 words) of what is almost the same as the original third part of the Love War and Stores trilogy. Having cut out that one day, the trilogy is changed to a 2-parter instead, but you got a lot more extended in chapters 3a and b. The only real change made in this chapter was that I extended the scene where Sakura's in Olivander's to include her actual buying of the wand. Other than that it was just the name changes and a few grammatical and spelling errors rectified. However, I am dyslexic, and this is more or less a self-beta, so there may be mistakes still. Feel free to point them out if and when you notice them, just recall that I'm writing this in Canadian English, not American English, so it's not wrong when I put something down like “colour” instead of “color”.
> 
> Anyway, back to talking about the actual chapter, during the initial run of this section of the story, I was getting a lot of complaints about the lack of Harry and friends. I feel compelled for the sake of new readers to remind everyone that this story takes place during the events of Order of the Phoenix. Now, while there will come to pass great changes to the events going on involving Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley children in which they experience a great deal character growth and development, this story follows the concept of a snowball effect in which the changes start out small by influence of key alterations that take place and grow at an exponential rate as things continue to progress. So at the moment, there isn't enough alteration to warrant more than a passing comment or two as the children are busy scrubbing mould off of cupboards and walls. There has always been a scene planned during the event of the prefect badges where the golden trio discuss the mysterious hand-delivered letters, because I judged that everything should be discussed at once rather than a dozen or so smaller conversations that had to keep recapping and referencing each other for continuity sake.
> 
> So, just heads up for everyone: if the events of a scene are not different enough from things that took place in the book, I will not be rewriting them. I will expect that everyone bothering to read this fanfic has already read and/or seen the movies enough times to know how those scenes take place and should you require a refresher there are several sources that one could turn to for this purpose. Many web pages have a chapter-by-chapter summery, the Harry Potter Lexicon has a day-by-day calender of events that I myself have made use of to build my time line, there is also the option of re-reading the section in question from a personal collection, pirated e-book, or basically any public library in North America and likely most of Europe. The point being, you don't need me to be wasting my writing time telling you things that you can already find elsewhere. We all know I'm a horridly slow writer to begin with, made slower by being a full time university student. That being said, if I write a scene you can bet that it's going to be at least 25% original content. The very VERY few exceptions that might be made are those so mandatory to the plot that they can a) not be altered for whatever reason, and b) can not be glazed over or skipped completely. So far I have found no such points, but I am not omniscient and so may end up being forced to do so in the future. However, until such an exceptional event takes place, that is the rule you are to expect from me.
> 
> That being said, I will close off this chapter by saying Shade and Sweet Water everyone, and I will see you next chapter, which will be comprised of predominantly original material (with a bit of me smudging in some of my favourite Sakura-Eriol moments that could no longer fit in these two chapters).


	9. Chapter 6: Goodbye at Summer's End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura and her Guardians return to Tomoeda and discover what her friends had been plotting behind her back in her absence. Harry gets a few more clues about the mystery he'll be faced with this year. Syaoran reveals his own mystery that begins to unfold until his mother makes her own appearance in London. This chapter includes highlights such as interacting with Chiharu, Rika, and Naoko, a guest appearance by Yamazaki, and a Nadeshiko/Fujitaka moment.

Sakura rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she came into the study where she felt Eriol's presence. He turned to the opening door with a smile. " _Good morning, Sakura-san! Did you sleep well?_ " he asked, putting down his pen for a moment.

" _Hai,_ " she said, coming up to the side of his desk. " _Good morning. Am I interrupting your work?_ "

" _This?_ " he indicated the paper. " _No, it's nothing urgent. I'm just rewriting some of Clow's older works on European Sorcery,_ " he explained, placing aside the sheet for him to return to it later. " _Is there something that you need?_ "

" _No, I just woke up so I came down to say good morning to everyone,_ " Sakura said, a little surprised by his question.

" _Oh, I see,_ " he smiled warmly at her. " _Are you hungry? I was about to start breakfast soon. What would you like?_ "

" _Anything is fine. Do you want me to help?_ "

" _You don't need to. I can manage on my own._ "

" _Are you sure?_ "

" _Yes,_ " he said with a smile. " _Nakuru should be in the living room watching cartoons. Why don't you go and join her?_ "

" _Okay,_ " Sakura nodded and hurried out of the room.

Sakura gave a sigh of minor depression when she left the room at Eriol's shooing her off. She knew he meant no harm, and offense was probably the farthest thing from his intent, but to her it was like he didn't want her around or something. But never one to worry about such things for long, Sakura went in search of Nakuru like she had been told. It took her a little bit to locate the living room, partly because she didn't know which way to start at and partly because the house was so large. But her search was aided by the sound of Nakuru's voice singing along with what she could only suppose was some sort of theme song.

Finally, after making her way into the living room, Sakura saw that the TV was sporting a trio of rather poorly drawn animal people. Sakura couldn't even tell what they were supposed to be! "Ohayo, Nakuru-san," she announced her presence.

The brunette turned and looked at the small girl and smiled, "Ohayo, kawaii Sakura-chan!" Nakuru greeted back.

" _What are you watching?_ " she asked curiously, coming to sit on the sofa next to the teenager.

" _Animaniacs,_ " she informed helpfully.

" _Are those bunnies?_ " Sakura asked.

" _I think they're puppies. Or maybe monkeys..._ " the older one replied, scratching her head in embarrassed confusion.

" _Oh. What are their names?_ "

" _The tall one's Yakko. The one in blue is Wakko, and the girl is their sister, Dot._ "

" _Who's the big fat guy?_ " Sakura asked, trying to understand what was going on. " _Why are they running from him? Isn't he a policeman? Isn't that what policemen wear?_ "

A vein began to pop on the side of Nakuru's head as she forced a smile and explained, attempting to hear the TV over their conversation. " _He's a security guard, he's trying to catch them cause they're always running all over the place._ "

" _What does that say?_ " she asked, pointing to a sign that the camera had panned to focus on.

" _Audition in progress,_ " she informed quickly.

" _Why is there an audition going on?_ " was the innocent question she was met with next.

" _Cause they live at the place movies are made,_ " Nakuru replied, annoyance beginning to seep into her voice.

" _Hoe?? That mus be fun, don't you think? What is he saying?_ "

"..."

* * *

Friday morning, Dumbledore and Moody arrived at the Order Headquarters together while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were eating breakfast. Molly had made pancakes while the children had still been in bed because both Tonks and Arthur had left for work shortly after dawn. The pancakes had been left on a heating plate to keep them warm so the children could eat whenever they pleased.

Ginny and Hermione had already eaten as both the girls were naturally early risers, but Hermione had opted to keep her two male friends company while they ate. As for the twins, they were still in bed, it was unusual for the twins to get up after Ron and Harry were; however, when Ron made an off-hand comment about it, Sirius had sniggered and said something about a “last prank” keeping them from going to bed for most the night. Remus had apparently taken pity on them before he had headed home at nearly one in the morning the night before, and finally let them get to sleep.

As it were, the topic of discussion that morning at breakfast had been the pranking war of the day before and all the things each side had done to the other. Sirius had been all too willing to sit down and go over the glorious details of everything Harry and his friends had missed when they had vouched to hide away on the landing the day before, and so both the boys and the man were laughing quite hard when the elder wizards came in.

Perhaps it was the jovial mood, or perhaps it was that Sirius was still against them hiding things from the children, but whatever the reason Sirius stood when Dumbledore entered the room and began talking despite the audience. “Oh, Dumbledore, good thing you're here! Mizuki brought another letter for you,” he informed, pulling the slightly crumpled envelope from his pocket.

The name was echoed from Mad-Eye's lips before the letter even reached Dumbledore's awaiting hand. “Mizuki?” One electric blue eye swivelled around to focus on the parchment folded into the shape of an envelope and the wax-seal crest adorning it. Moody's scarred and gnarled face contorted into a furious scowl at the sight of the offending letter, causing Harry's curious ears to itch. “Another one?!”

Sirius flinched back from the crusty old auror ever so slightly before barrelling on as if nothing were the matter, handing the letter over with a smile. “It arrived yesterday afternoon. We knew you were planning to come over today, so Remus and Tonks and I just figured to wait until now to give it to you,” he explained conversationally.

“Dumbledore, this is a breach in our security, surely you realize this! We can't trust this woman, what if she's an impostor, or is put under the Imperius Curse? Until we know for sure her method of finding this place, we should not be resting so easily!” Moody insisted.

“Dumbledore says it's fine, so it's fine,” Sirius insisted, though the tone of his voice made it clear even to the children that he was as much attempting to reassure himself on this matter as Moody. 

“'Fine' is it? And what about when Voldemort and his merry little band of Death Eaters follow her in, using the same breach of security, to your godson, hmm? If memory serves, it was you and James who had insisted so wholeheartedly that Petigrew had what it takes to join the Order. And wasn't your reasoning at the time 'because James said so'? Have you learned absolutely nothing?!” Moody accused.

Sirius was a waxy sort of pale, resembling more the insane man who had escaped from Azkaban the two years before than he had the whole summer. But more disturbing than his appearance was the low, threatening growl that rumbled around in his chest. Harry wondered if Sirius would turn into a dog and bite Moody for what he was saying about this situation and the past.

However, before either Mad-Eye or Sirius could open their mouths to continue the argument, Dumbledore interjected in that way that only Dumbledore could. “I assure you, Alastor, that I have never met a person who's perception I trust more than my correspondent. And speaking on the subject of perception, perhaps you may care to save the remainder of his discussion until after your young audience has left the room...” he reprimanded, giving a stern look at both the careless arguers and the guilty eavesdroppers.

With that said, neither adult spoke of the matter until the teens had finished the last of their breakfast and were shunted up the stairs.

 

* * *

"A-ano..."

Eriol turned to the noise coming from the door that was cracked just enough for Sakura's head to fit through. " _Sakura-san?! Weren't you watching cartoons with Nakuru?_ "

" _Well, I was, but..._ " she looked minorly embarrassed. " _I couldn't understand any of it, and... and I think I made Nakuru-san mad at me for always asking her what was being said..._ "

The surprised look on Eriol's face melted away into a parental smile, like Fujitaka always used. " _I see. Nakuru is very smart and curious, but it's true she doesn't have the patience it takes to teach. Please don't think poorly of her, by the time breakfast is ready she'll have forgotten the whole thing. Yukito-san is probably in the garden, and Kaho is most likely still asleep. I think Spinel is in the library again..._ "

" _U-um..._ " Sakura squeaked out. Eriol fell silent and looked at her expectantly, waiting to hear what it was she had been wanting to say. " _A-are you sure you don't need any help?_ "

Eriol looked at Sakura's almost pleading green eyes as if to ponder something, before he ventured to ask, " _Do you_ _want_ _to help?_ " the idea was, admittedly, rather new to him. Spinel found it a waste of his time to try and cook, Naruku was too lazy most of the time to learn, and Kaho had announced herself a disaster in the kitchen back when they first met. Eriol had simply gotten used to doing it all himself, using spell work to make up the extra hands he lacked on his own accord.

And yet Sakura nodded, blushing, at his question, and hurried over to pull out an apron. Unable to help himself, Eriol marveled, and not for the first time since Sakura-tachi's arrival two nights before, at this new sensation known as 'family'. He cursed himself silently as envy and jealousy overcame him at the thought that his other half knew nothing but this feeling. Sometimes Eriol really did hate Clow, leaving him with all of this while the other got away with living the life of a normal person.

" _Eriol-kun?_ " the voice was filled with curiosity, and a little annoyance, that dragged the enigma back to reality.

" _I'm sorry, what was that, Sakura-san?_ " he asked with a smile, as per usual.

" _I asked what you would like me to do?_ "

" _Oh, yes, of course!_ " Eriol stepped from his stool and over to a cupboard on the far side of the room. From there he pulled out a mixing bowl and turned once more to Sakura with a smile. " _Have you ever made baking-powder biscuits before?_ "

" _No..._ " Sakura replied, shaking her head slowly. Her eyes were fixed solidly on Eriol's, she had seen the ancient shadow cross through the stormy gaze like a cold, hollow wind: too old to feel and too tired to care. It was so out of place on his babyish face to find the eyes of the dead that she couldn't repress the soft shiver that ran up her spine.

If Eriol had seen the shudder, he did a wonderful job of hiding it, for all he did was wander up to the table and say, " _I'll show you, then._ " After gathering the ingredients for her and explaining how to do everything, she set off to work and he returned to preparing the dish he had been working on before. At one point Nakuru came in to find out what they would be eating, and Kaho came by twice to get a shopping list from Eriol, and Kero had to be shunted out of the kitchen repeatedly to keep away from the snacks. But despite it all, the two sets of small hands worked with surprising efficiency, being done the meal before the cartoons were over, which raised it's fair share of complaints from the one watching them when called away to eat.

Breakfast as a whole was uneventful. The guardians ate three times the amount of food the humans did, and Kaho misplaced her fork for a few minutes, but as a whole, and with everything that could happen among such a group, it went smoothly. It was during the time that Nakuru was trying to outrace Yukito and Kero in the cleaning up of the last few bits of food that were left over that Kaho got to her feet. " _I'll go and get the groceries now!_ "

Yukito abandoned their game and stood as well. " _I'll go with you._ "

" _You don't need to..._ " she said.

But Yukito shook his head, " _I still have to replace those eggs that I caused you to drop._ "

" _Alright, if you insist..._ " Kaho then paused and began digging in her purse. " _Now where is it..._ "

" _If you're looking for the shopping list, it's upstairs on your bedside table,_ " Eriol informed, not looking up from his clearing the table.

"Oh... heheh!" and with that Kaho hurried up the stairs.

Sakura looked blankly at Eriol for a second as she piled the plates that she had gathered on top of his. " _Does Mizuki-sensie often leave her shopping lists there?_ "

" _Not particularly,_ " Eriol said, off hand.

" _Hoe? Then how did you know that that's where it was?_ " Sakura asked, getting more confused.

" _Because when she came in last time to find the list, she didn't have her earrings on, but she does now._ " He explained as if it was no big deal.

" _And that is where she keeps her earrings?_ " Sakura asked, starting to get the gist of the logic behind everything. Eriol only reply was a nod. " _Hoe! You're really good at noticing things, Eriol-kun! I didn't even know she wasn't wearing her earrings from before!_ "

Innocent as the praise was, it still brought a flush to Eriol's pail cheeks that he was found out in his silent observation and admiration for the young teacher. Though he was rather positive that Sakura was quite clueless when it came to the reason for his studying the woman, he still wasn't too sure how she would react when she found out and so the conversation being on such topics put him on edge. The last person he wanted to think badly of him was Sakura.

As they walked into the kitchen to clean the dishes, Eriol looked back over his shoulder to talk to Sakura. " _You are going home today, right_ _?_ "

" _Yes, the plane leaves at three,_ " Sakura replied thoughtfully.

" _Have you finished all your packing_ _?_ " Eriol pressed. " _I was hoping for a chance to speak with you about some things. Just catch you up on some basic sorcery knowledge for when you go to school._ "

" _Alright. It shouldn't take me more than half an hour to finish packing the last of my things, I'll go hurry and do that, then we can talk for the rest of the day if you want._ "

* * *

Kaho and Yuki returned to the lonely mansion some forty-five minutes after their departing, arms laden with produce. Every hand was recruited to help with the unloading of the groceries. After they were done, Eriol lead Sakura away to one of his private studies so they could have their talk.

" _Magic, or at least Sorcery, is made up of several components that work together. The easiest of these, the one you've had the most experience with, is called 'alignment'. A sorcerer's alignment is traditionally either sun or moon. The occasional sorcerer, such as Clow Reed, has a secondary alignment. For myself, my primary alignment is sun with a secondary of moon. You on the other hand, are quite special. Your primary alignment is mostly unheard of, as it being that of the stars, with secondary and tertiary alignments as_ _moon_ _and_ _sun_ _respectively. The wider spectrum of alignments that a sorcerer has, the greater their power becomes._

" _Another one that you will most likely hear a lot about in your training this year is 'attributes'. An attribute is the element that the sorcerer is most inclined to cast. There are six attributes in the known cycle, and those are, in no particular order of power: fire, wind, water, earth, wood, and thunder. Sun and moon split those attributes equally, with fire, earth, and thunder under sun, and wind, water, and wood under moon._ "

" _Like the cards..._ " Sakura said softly, pulling them out. " _I used Windy and Wood on Yue, and he said that they were both under him..._ "

" _Yes, Clow used the basis of attributes in creating the cards. Other things effect magic as well, though not as seriously as alignment and attribute._ "

" _Other things? Like what?_ "

" _Well, what affiliation you have refers to the type of spell work you use, like a class... The Li Clan is traditionally affiliated with a branch of eastern magic. There are other branches, each with it's own set of slightly different circles and spells, but all eastern magic has the same base to it's style. That base is known as an affiliation. In England, here, and when you get to Hogwarts, the affiliation that they will be teaching will be western magic. Over in America, they learn the new-world magic affiliation, in Africa they use more of the ancient affiliation... are you getting the idea?_ "

" _Sort of..._ "

" _Also, something that can not be changed no matter how much you train, something that all sorcerers are born with, is the aspect of their magic. This means whether their power will be light or dark. I am dark, and you are light. It has little effect on how the spells are cast, the effect is more in the result of the magic and what the caster can do with it. I can never learn to block out visions, or any magic for that matter, because of the dark aspect in my casting. The closest I can do is instead to attack the incoming spell with one of my own and hope it deflects it. You, on the other hand, are a light aspect, and so shielding yourself from such things will come quite easily and naturally._

“ _However, just because this is how sorcery works, this is not necessarily how wizardry works. While both are magic, they are not the same thing. By attending a wizarding school, you will not be able to express yourself freely as a sorceress. They do not believe we still exist, and they would treat you with disbelief and fear if you were to attempt to inform them of what you really are. I believe Yue and Cerberus already expressed this sentiment in some way to you, but I must re-enforce it by stating that while you can acknowledge the existence of magic within you, you can not discuss sorcery with anyone beyond fellow sorcerers you happen to meet while attending._ ”

“ _And there are? Other sorcerers going there, I mean?_ ”

“ _Yes, though I doubt there are very many as most prefer to be home-schooled, there are always a few who wish to be able to participate in the wizard's world and so attend a magic school. You need not worry, you will not be alone and alienated there, I just needed to make sure that the secrecy of the situation was clear to you. I did not want you to get hurt because the situation hadn't been explained to you. Far too often people make the mistake of trying to protect their loved ones by concealing facts from them, when in actuality that leads to far greater pain in the long run. Not only do they get hurt from acting off of incomplete information, but they are hurt even more later when they find out they could have been spared all along if they had just been told the truth to begin with._

“ _You will be facing hardships at the school that normal wizards and witches do not suffer from, born solely from the fact that your magic is of a sorcery source while theirs is from a wizardry one. Casting their spells will be harder, until you get accustomed to converting their spells into a form you can cast. And unlike the wizards, who can borrow another's wand for dampened results, you will never be capable of casting spells without having an insignia engraved on the wand. However, if you are in a dangerous situation, where you have no other choice, you do have your sorcery to fall back on which they lack the capability for._ ”

Sakura examined the butt of her wand for a moment, where her circle had been intricately and likely magically carved as if it were some seal. “ _But Eriol-kun, why are sorcerers different from wizards? If they both use magic, why aren't they the same?_ ”

Eriol smiled at his heiress. “ _That, sadly, is a mystery that may never be solved._ ”

“ _Not even the most ancient of Guardians know the reason behind it, the facts having been lost long before their creation,_ ” Kaho interjected as she came in to put down some sandwiches and tea for a morning snack.

" _Guardians...? Like Kero-chan, and Yue, and Nakuru-san and Spinel-san?_ "

" _Not... exactly like them, but yes. There are hundreds of Guardians around the world, bound to the most ancient and powerful of Sorcery Clans._ "

" _Hoe..._ " Sakura mumbled in awe, " _Will I meet any of them in Hogwarts?_ "

" _Perhaps. It depends on the families attending and whether they feel it necessary to send the Guardians with the children, or keep them at home with themselves._ " Eriol explained.

* * *

Books packed securely in her suitcase, and the rest of her new school supplies stacked neatly within the large chest in the room she had been staying in as per Eriol's instructions. It was time to return to Japan, to load up Kaho's car and drive to the airport. To say goodbye once more to friends and family alike.

Kaho, the only one present with a valid drivers licence, was of course the one behind the wheel, and Eriol took his place in the front passenger seat. This left Nakuru to sit in the back with Sakura and Yukito, which meant that the drive was filled with bickering, because no one could decide who should sit where. Yue was demanding within Yukito to keep Sakura away from the 'thieving impostor', but to have the two Moon Guardians sit side by side was just begging for disaster, for it was in their very nature to battle.

Nakuru's jealous, taunting nature led to her wanting to sit in the middle, with Sakura behind Eriol and Yukito barricaded from them both. But Eriol saw at once that this was a bad idea, and told her plainly that the answer was no. This lead to only one other solution, to have Sakura sit in the middle and put up with the two Moon Guardians bickering over her for the whole ride. At least Kero and Spinel were easier to pacify, letting them float freely around the inside of the vehicle so long as they didn't get in Kaho's way.

As Eriol sat and listened to Yukito insist that it was *his* Kinomoto family, he tried his best to hold in the laughter. Leaning over to the side, he spoke to Kaho in a tone that betrayed his amusement in the situation at hand. "I doubt it would really do to threaten at this point to turn the vehicle around and go back, would it...?"

"Indeed, I doubt it would..." Kaho replied with a smile of mirth of her own.

Eriol grew quiet for a moment, however, as he appeared to be pondering something. "Though, what else is there that fathers say to the children on road trips?"

The teacher pondered this question herself for some time. "Well, they reply to the children's questions of 'are we there yet'..."

"But they have not yet asked that. How can I tell them 'no' for something that has not yet been asked?" he inquired.

"Quite," Kaho agreed, "Well, I suppose your primary option then is to accept that you have better children than most of the world."

"Yes... I believe I may feel pride in that," Eriol admitted with a nod.

"I would dare to think you should," Kaho insisted. Then, unable to help it any longer, the 'parents' of this little family shared a good hearty laugh.

* * *

Sakura, Kero, and Yukito stood before their hosts at the London airport saying their goodbyes.

“ _Thank you for having us,_ ” Sakura said with a bow.

“ _Not at all,_ ” Eriol responded with a shake of his head, “ _it was our pleasure. The only regret is that you have to go so soon._ ”

“ _Bye, Kero-chan! Sakura-chan! Come back and play again soon! You can leave Yue behind, though,_ ” Nakuru insisted, waving at the three.

“ _Or better yet, would you mind trading Ruby Moon for Yue?_ ” Spinel pleaded with Sakura.

“ _And what is_ _that_ _supposed to mean?!_ ” Nakuru demanded, turning quickly to her twin in challenge.

“ _ That you're loud and annoying, and doubly so when Cerberus is present. Such an arrangement would be ideal, actually. You could go and pester Touya-san to death, being as rambunctious as you see fit with that spaz of a Sun Guardian's help, and I could get you out of my fur permanently. _ ”

Noticing the subtle way that Yukito latched on to Sakura at the mention of such a trade, Eriol chose to interject his Guardian's squabbling before Spinel's teasing brought about any unwanted problems with Yue. “ _ Come now, Spinel, you know the nature of your duality wouldn't allow for such a thing. You and Ruby Moon are perfect point and counterpoint to one and other, and it must not be any other way. _ ”

“ _ Too bad for you, looks like you're stuck with Suppi-chan for the long haul, _ ” Kero told Nakuru.

“ _ Yeah, well... I'm rather used to it by now, _ ” Nakuru responded with a shrug.

Kero rolled his eyes. “ _ Tell me about it. I've been stuck with Yue for centuries, and he is way worse than Suppi-chan is. Always either asleep, or grumpy. At least now there's the Snow Bunny to even things out a little. _ ”

“ _ As I recall, Cerberus, _ ” Yukito said in a haughty voice, obviously Yue speaking through him, “ _ it was  _ _ you _ _ who spent all your time sleeping on your back in the middle of the yard until Clow would come and feed you. _ ”

To the sidelines, Sakura and Eriol stood beside each other and looked on at the four Guardians exchanging verbal taunts and blows. “ _ That was nice of Kero-chan to come to Yue's aid like that, _ ” Sakura observed.

“ _ Oh? You think he said something to defend Yue? _ ” Eriol questioned, a secretive smile and a raised eyebrow on his otherwise innocent looking face.

“ _ Not... defend. But rather allowed him the opportunity to join in. Yue was getting a little sad that Nakuru-san, Spinel-san, and Kero-chan were all playing together, _ ” Sakura explained. 

Eriol gave a chuckle at her explanation of the situation, but then turned a loving smile on to her. “ _ I'm glad that I chose to leave those two to you. You understand them in a way that not many people could, and give them what they each need to grow. Clow Reed took their development as far as he could go. If I had taken them, I would have only been able to take them a little farther before I ended up stunting their growth once more. Please, Sakura-san, show me where it is that only you can take them... _ ”

“ _ Ano... you mean back to Tomoeda? Or are you talking about that Hogwarts school? Hoe... _ ”

This got both Eriol and Kaho laughing, which only sufficed to make Sakura blush. “ _ Don't change, Sakura-san. Never change. You are too wonderful the way you are now, _ ” Eriol told her.

Kaho, on the other hand, took pity on the young girl and made an attempt to explain. “ _ Eriol is talking about long-term metaphysically. How you treat them and how that treatment alters their behaviour. If they are happy, it will show in their actions and their words. _ ”

Further conversation was cut short by the automated voice telling passengers that it was time to board the plane. So with much exuberance, waving hands, and promises to miss each other and see each other again soon—including an attempt by Nakuru to sneak in among the boarding party—Sakura and her two Guardians were off, returning to Japan.

* * *

The flight was long, and at times uncomfortable. Kero had watched the inflight movies from his Mistress's lap, and Sakura had played rounds of cards with both her Guardians at different intervals. She had drawn, been read to by Yukito out of both novels and one of her new textbooks, and fell asleep for a while.

By the time the flight touched down in the Japanese airport, Sakura was all too ready to go home. Being bustled along through the “Arrivals” gateway, Sakura had to cling to Yukito's hand so not to be separated from him within the throng of people. Kero was nestled in the crook of her arm, the cards in their special purse, and the Sakura Book safely in her winged backpack, along with a few other things to entertain herself with.

Sakura knew the instant that Yukito spotted Touya through the river of heads by the burst of elation that shot out of him through their conjoined hands. A few minutes more and she saw the first signs of her father's smiling face between the brakes as the masses fanned out to their respective loved ones as they exited the gate.

Excited as only a child could get, and missing her family oh so much, Sakura broke from her Moon Guardian's hand and ran forward, flinging her arms around her father's midsection. Immediately she was engulfed in a return embrace, the gentle presence that she associated with his familiar warmth spread through her and the spicy smell of his aftershave told her she was home at last.

The greeting between Touya and Yukito was more subdued than the one between father and child. Theirs was a greeting which predominantly consisted of long looks filled with affection and pleasant conversation about the trip. However, the fact that they stood closer together than was strictly necessary in the crowded room during all the exchanges of greeting each other wasn't brought up by any of the party involved.

They gathered the luggage and piled into the car, Sakura getting shotgun so that Yukito and Touya could sit together in the back. The two were content conversing quietly their sweet nothings while Sakura talked loudly to her father about all that she had seen and experienced in England. It was a round-about means of explaining, but Fujitaka was well practiced in listening to his children chatter on about whatever they cared to tell him.

She had been explaining all about the huge bookstore that was larger on the inside than on the out when they had pulled up to the house. Yukito and Touya helped with the bags, making it so Sakura could go into the house ahead of them. She didn't notice that Fujitaka and Touya hung back, with Yukito automatically following suit to remain close to his beloved. She merely pushed at the handle of her home and entered.

The moment she stepped fully into the entrance, not even having gotten a chance to stoop in order to take off her shoes, she was met by the happy cry of six voices calling out “ _ Surprise! _ ”

“Hoe?” Sakura blinked unintelligent at everyone gathered in her hallway. “ _ What's all this? _ ”

“ _ We're throwing you a party! _ ” Chiharu said excitedly.

“ _ Because you're going to that English boarding school soon, everyone thought it would be nice to make a few last happy memories of summer before you left, _ ” Rika explained.

“ _ Everyone... _ ” Sakura teared up, touched by their thoughtfulness.

“ _ Group hug! _ ” Rei suddenly called, jumping forward and dragging the nearest two—who happened to be Naoko and Tomoyo—with her to engulf the Card Mistress. Chiharu and Rika hurried forward, Rika holding Hikari's hand to urge her into the growing mass of giggling preteen exuberance. 

“ _ Oi! Take it somewhere else, you're blocking the door! _ ” Touya scolded from behind them. Most of Sakura's friends weren't accustomed to her gruff older brother as they hardly ever came to visit. Being addressed by him made many of them jump and scamper to do as he bid them to. Sakura hurried to remove her shoes and join her friends where they had relocated their gathering in the living room.

Behind her, Touya lead Yukito up the stairs with their luggage, to put her things in her room before vanishing into her brother's room together. Fujitaka headed to the kitchen to ensure that food would be in ready supply whenever the guests became hungry.

Sakura, still holding Kero, came into the livingroom and opted to make herself comfortable on the floor so that her friends could share the sofa and chairs without being too crowded. Almost at once the first question escaped Chiharu, “ _So tell us about England!_ ”

_Yes, what was it like?_ ” Naoko parroted eagerly.

“ _Well, I went and stayed with Eriol-kun in his house while I was there. He lives in a really big house, there had to be at least fifty rooms in it!_ ” Sakura began.

“ _Fifty?! I never knew he was that rich..._ ” Rei exclaimed, eyes wide. “ _Shame, if I had known, I would have given it a go._ ”

“ _Rei-chan!_ ” Rika scolded, only half serious.

“ _What? What girl doesn't want a cute rich boyfriend?_ ” Rei countered.

“ _I don't think such things as wealth really mater in finding love,_ ” Tomoyo philosophically debated.

“ _Well, of course_ _you_ _wouldn't care, you've got more than enough money as it is! The rest of us live in a practical world, though, where money's hard to come by,_ ” Rei nodded sagely at her own words.

“ _ I don't know if it would have done you much good, anyway. Hiiragizawa-kun seemed rather intently focused on Sakura-chan, _ ” Naoko pointed out.

“ _ Oh? You noticed that too, huh? Did you like Hiiragizawa-kun as well, Naoko-chan? _ ” Rei asked.

Naoko blushed, and then began to fidget with the edge of her skirt. “ _ No, not really. I haven't found a person I like yet... _ ”

“ _ For me, there's no one but Yamazaki-kun, never has been. And Rika-chan is going out with someone older, right? _ ” Chiharu clarified.

“ _ That's right, _ ” Rika nodded, blushing slightly. 

“ _ You never did tell us who you were dating... _ ” Naoko pointed out. 

Rika covered her cheek with one hand and looked away from her friends. “ _ Maybe one day, but for now I'd rather not say... _ ”

“ _ What about Tomoyo-chan? _ ” Chiharu questioned, looking to the camera girl curiously.

Tomoyo smiled at everyone and told them rather easily, “ _ The person I like most already has a number one love who is someone else. I'd rather not come between them so I've opted to stay on the sidelines and be happy for their happiness. _ ”

“ _ Wow... that is so deep... _ ” Rei said, stars in her eyes. 

“ _ Hikari-chan was telling me that she had a crush... _ ” Naoko said, looking at the quiet member of their group. 

“ _ Oh, well, yes, but... _ ” Hikari stammered out, hiding her face in her hands. “ _ I'd never have the sort of courage it takes to confess... _ ”

“ _ Oh, come on! That's no good! _ ” Rei complained.

“ _ I remember that stage, _ ” Chiharu nodded sagely, “ _ I used to be so nervous about confessing to Yamazaki-kun, I was scared that we wouldn't be able to be friends anymore if I did. _ ”

“ _ Yes, confessing your feelings can be one of the hardest things you ever do. But you never know until you try, that person might just love you back... _ ” Rika agreed.

“ _ What about you, Sakura-chan? _ ” Hikari asked, trying to get the focus of the conversation somewhere other than herself.

“ _ Yes, that's right. Didn't you have someone you were trying to confess to a few months ago? _ ” Rika recalled.

“ _ It... didn't work out, _ ” Sakura confided, taking her turn to blush. “ _ I didn't get a chance to tell him before he left... _ ”

“ _ Oh, how sad... _ ” Naoko expressed. Hikari put a hand to her mouth and watched Sakura with sympathetic eyes.

“ _ We still talk on the phone some times, and write letters to each other regularly... I gave him a bear, but we haven't discussed it yet. I don't want to tell him over the phone or in some letter, but next time I see him, I'm definitely going to make him understand my feelings, _ ” Sakura insisted.

“ _Now that's conviction for you!_ ” Rei cheered.

From there the girl talk started to drift into other topics, such as school gossip and opinions of different classmates. While Kero sat and listened, pretending to be a stuffed animal, he wondered at how fast little girls grew up. While his Mistress still had points where she played with toys or was overbearingly childish, he couldn't deny those moments in time where she expressed her more adult interests.

Kero noted with some amusement that Fujitaka waited until the conversation had drifted safely away from boys before he brought out the bowls of snacks, and with some trepidation that it was only at this point that Fujitaka discreetly removed Kero from the room. The Sun Guardian remained huffy about being denied the treats served to his Mistress and her friends until he realized that Fujitaka had thought ahead enough to set aside a special tray of snacks in his office for Kero.

* * *

The girls had watched two movies when a knock on the door announced the arrival of Yamazaki. He had dropped by to welcome Sakura home and ask her how her little trip had gone. He had ended up staying with the girls for a movie, but excused himself when they pulled out the karaoke machine that Tomoyo's company would be releasing in a few months. Her mother had suggested she bring it along and give the product a test run prior to public release.

They had been passing the mic around for a good hour, getting up and dancing along with favourite songs whether they were singing it or not, and generally being a group of giggling prepubescent girls when Fujitaka braved the scene with ice cream in hand. The sweet treat proved to be distraction enough for the girls as they sat down in and proceeded to chatter incisively to each other all at once in voices pitched with excitement.

Fujitaka pondered as he returned to his study to continue marking papers if the reason Touya never had get-togethers like this when he was Sakura's age was because he was a boy, or if it was rooted in his quiet, antisocial personality. When Fujitaka had been her age, he was still going by Nanashi, and living in an orphanage, trying to catch up on ten years of missed life lessons. But then, Fujitaka supposed that wasn't right, either. After all, according to what Eriol had said, that had only been his first year of life.

But when he had existed for eleven years, his body had appeared to be that of a young man in his early twenties, and so friendships had behaved differently than they do for a child. Opening his study door and slipping in, Fujitaka was met with the sight of his wife's ghost fussing adoringly over Kero. The Sun Guardian was currently in his smaller, sealed form as he worked his way through devouring the bowl of ice cream Fujitaka had given him due to the size illusion making it seem like the bowl was that much larger.

Nadeshiko had discovered at some point over the summer break that while she couldn't physically interact with the real world, being a ghost and all, for some reason the Guardians and Cards were exempt from this fact. Fujitaka could only guess it was because they were made of solidified, concentrated magic, but for whatever reason Nadeshiko's gentle fingers could brush through their hair, caress their flesh, and jingle those strange little earrings the two wore in their true forms.

Currently, Nadeshiko was leaning over the table, scratching the small head with her immaculately manicured nails. “ _Enjoying yourselves?_ ” Fujitaka asked.

“ _Thanks, Tou-san!_ ” Kero offered with a large grin.

“ _Kero-chan is so cute...!_ ” Nadeshiko cooed, giving the little beast an Eskimo kiss. Kero didn't even bother pretending to be embarrassed by the gushing, he simply returned the gesture and happily went back to eating. 

“ _You don't find it odd? All of our new children..._ ” Fujitaka questioned, his hand reaching up and gliding through her intangible hair. 

“ _I don't mind,_ ” Nadeshiko insisted. “ _I always saw things when I was little. Creatures and people that no one else could see. It was lonely, and I felt so horrible when I realized Touya would have to face the same fate. The most I could do was just let him know that he wasn't alone. That Kaa-chan could see and feel and hear everything that he could._

“ _These children of your past self, they're not all that different to the things I had always seen growing up as a little girl, so their forms don't bother me. And Sakura needs you to reassure her that what she can do is just as normal as any other talent, just as Touya needed to hear the same from me. And because of that, I want to support you and Sakura both. If that means becoming mother to a few more than I gave birth to, then so be it._ ”

“ _Nadeshiko-san..._ ” Fujitaka whispered, wishing so badly that he could hold her and kiss her right now, but at the same time so very grateful that he had at least this much of his beloved left, and knowing that most people didn't ever receive so much of a gift.

“ _I love you, and I love our children. But the wonderful thing about the heart is, there's always room to find new love. Just because you find someone new to love, doesn't mean that your old loves have to be forgotten. So it's okay to welcome these new members of our family. I don't mind at all,_ ” Nadeshiko insisted.

After that, Fujitaka got back to work. Nadeshiko arranged herself in such a way that it seemed she was hanging around his neck, small gestures to show their love for one and other, Kero returned to his true form and laid his large body on the floor along side Fujitaka's chair with his head wrapping around to the front, where it rested on the sorcerer's feet.

Fujitaka didn't know why the pose the cougar-like beast took was so comfortingly familiar, but he let sleeping cats lay and only occasionally put down his marking pen to reach his hand up and let it hover over the spot that Nadeshiko's hand sat. It gave the comforting illusion of holding those delicate fingers once more, and he would often move his thumb along the digits that he could see, but not feel. He missed the feel of her so much, and sometimes wished he had been made as much a magical being as Clow Reed's other creations.

* * *

As evening progressed, and dinner time rolled around, Touya and Yukito finally emerged from Touya's room. They joined Fujitaka, Sakura, and her friends for the meal before trudging back up the stairs together. The sound of young female voices still drifted up through the floor and past the closed door, but the location at least gave the illusion of being alone in their secluded little world.

“ _How much energy do girls have, anyway...?_ ” mumbled Touya as he reclined once more on his bed. The way he was shuffled over to one side and the look he was giving his silver haired friend was a clear invitation for company. 

Not one to disappoint, Yukito crawled up onto the bed next to his boyfriend and laid his head in such a way that he could listen to Touya's heart beating. “ _It's not because they're girls. They're just young... and happy. Being happy and young makes for very excitable individuals._ ”

“ _You won't let me get away with grumbling about anything, will you?_ ” the dark haired teen teased.

“ _I want you to be young and happy, too. That way you can be easily excitable for me as well,_ ” was Yukito's coy reply. 

Touya flushed at the suggestive words, earning an endearing laugh from his teasing bed-mate. For as much as he loved his companion, Yukito's own adoration of seeing him flustered had it's moments of annoyance. But then, this generally hidden attitude that only Touya knew of was one of the things that most endeared the lunar Guardian to the stonic teen. He didn't know how he'd manage in the coming months with both his adorable little sister and his true love half a world away.

That thought brought about the impulse that he didn't waste time contemplating. He merely acted, reaching his arms around the smaller, silver haired body nestled against his own and clung with all his might. “ _T-To-ya...?_ ” Yukito stammered out, surprised by the sudden act of extreme affection. Usually following such a joke Touya would attempt distance in order to recompose himself before facing his snickering beloved once again.

“ _Don't leave me..._ ” Touya whispered into the soft strands, “ _Yuki, stay with me tonight?_ ”

Now it was Yukito's turn to blush a deep red. Though his words were often teasingly suggestive, and they had been dating for well over a month, their relationship up to this point had been surprisingly platonic, consisting majorly of held hands and hugs with only the occasional bout of kissing when neither could hold out any longer. “ _To-ya... I-I'm sorry, but I don't think... I'm not quite ready to..._ ”

Yukito's stammering was initially met with a rather confused—if not hurt—stare until the proverbial light bulb visibly went on in Touya's head, causing him to sputter and choke over his own breath as he turned redder than Yukito had ever seen before. “ _N-no! I didn't-that is-I wasn't... I meant just... you know... spend the night. In my room. With me. Not..._ ”

“ _Just stay close...?_ ” Yukito hazarded a translation for his stammering boyfriend.

That seemed to do the trick, letting Touya calm down to speak the words correctly. “ _You're going to be gone soon... for so long. I just... want to be with you while we can be..._ ”

“ _Ah,_ ” Yukito acknowledged, “ _I feel the same. I'll miss you so much..._ ” 

With that confession, Yukito reached up and brushed his lips against Touya's.

* * *

It ended up that the girls stayed up well past midnight, and didn't get up until around ten the next morning. This wasn't all that odd for Sakura, and in a way helped with her jet lag as England was several timezones away from Japan. Fujitaka happily provided a large brunch for the children, who finally began trickling home one by one when their parents arrived to pick them up starting around noon.

It finally dwindled down to the point where the only remaining guest that didn't practically live there to begin with was Tomoyo, meaning that Kero could come out of hiding and Sakura got the chance to talk about all the magical things she had seen on her trip that she had had to keep secret from her other friends. It was when they got to the look of the school uniform that all hell broke loose.

“ _What do you mean the uniform is all black? How can that be? And what about the cut? Don't they have any aesthetic value at all?! How could my cute little Sakura-chan be reduced to wearing a featureless, pure black robe all the time!? That can't be! I won't stand for it!_ ” the young seamstress ranted.

“ _Hoe... Tomoyo-chan... it's not that bad, really... I mean, it's a school uniform, so..._ ” Sakura tried to comfort.

“ _But it's completely un-cute in any way, shape, or form! How can my idol of absolute adorableness be reduced to wandering around for a full ten months in such an atrociously un-adorable outfit?! Oh, I'm ruined!_ ” Tomoyo bemoaned. “ _Not only will I not have my Sakura-chan to film in all her wonderful adventures about learning magic and becoming a true magical girl, but now I'll have nightmares the whole time of her wandering around in such an ugly sack!_ ”

_"Ano..._ ”

“ _My artistic sense can't stand it! The adventures of Magical Girl Cardcaptor Sakura: Season 3 can simply not take place with the heroine wearing such a horrid outfit!_ ”

“ _Hoe...? Season three?_ ”

“ _That does it! I simply must produce true shows of adorableness and culture for my Sakura-chan to wear so that others may lay eyes upon her cuteness and see the error of their ways!_ ”

“ _Hoe?!?_ ”

“ _And I simply MUST have documentation!_ ” Tomoyo ended dramatically.

“ _That would be problematic,_ ” Kero announced.

“ _Oh? Why is that?_ ” Tomoyo asked, turning her attention to the small golden plushy. 

“ _Electricity doesn't function in extremely magical environments. The currents disrupt each other and magic tends to prevail,_ ” Kero explained.

“ _Hoe? But Kero-chan, Tomoyo-chan always filmed me using magic before..._ ” Sakura attempted to point out.

“ _It's not the same thing. While the Mistress's magic is powerful, it was on the scale of point spells, not enough to compare to hundreds of years worth of magic residue radiating within the very atmosphere. Surely you noticed the difference when we were at Daigon Alley?_ ” Yue spoke up from the wall upon which he was leaning. 

“ _Not... not really..._ ” Sakura admitted, looking shy and abashed that she apparently failed such a rudimentary skill like that, “ _It felt magical, but not all that different than the time before the Judgement, though, lacking Clow-san's presence, of course..._ ”

“ _I'm actually not all that surprised,_ ” Kero announced, nodding sagely as he sat up on the table. This was one of his 'I'm going to be a responsible Sun Guardian now' poses, causing both the young girls to perk up in interest for the lesson they were about to be taught. “ _Sakura-chan is a Light aspect, and a very powerful one at that. It's not much of a shock that she would naturally protect herself against the overbearing chaos that most long-time magical communities become, especially if they aren't sensitive to the residues and don't purify the area regularly._ ”

“ _I-I'm not THAT powerful... am I?_ ” Sakura modestly questioned.

“ _Sakura-chan is so cool..._ ” Tomoyo fan-girled over her magical cousin.

“ _Mistress, you have bested Clow's creations, and even bested Clow himself on multiple occasions. Must you still question such facts?_ ” Yue pointed out in a way that would have been exasperated if his face or tone ever wavered that far from the blank porcelain mask. 

“ _But not by that much..._ ” Sakura insisted, “ _Eriol-kun--_ ”

“ _Is the reincarnation of Clow, who was the most powerful sorcerer in history. And before you get in on it again, that Gaki was way weaker than you, even as far back as the Judgement,_ ” Kero cut her off, having had this same conversation with her countless times since her two fellow sorcerers had returned to their homes months before. 

Sensing her cousin's distress at being singled out as one so far and above her peers, Tomoyo decided it was time for a tactical subject change. “ _Anyway, getting back to the important thing, you said that a video camera wouldn't work in Sakura-chan's new school? So does that mean that I'll have to spend an entire ten months without even being able to watch Sakura-chan on film? What about phones? Will we be able to call each other?_ ”

“ _Well, phones are a no-go, same with video cameras, televisions, computers, video games, and most other modern appliances. They have adapted some devices, such as normal cameras and radios, but it's taken a long time as most wizards don't interact with the non-magical communities and there are so few who do have outside contact that go into inventing magical based versions that their technology is about the equivalence of the start of the century,(1)_ ” Kero explained for her. 

“ _The start of the century? That is rather troublesome..._ ” Tomoyo pondered.

“ _Though that was nearly forty years ago now that Clow had any real contact with the wizarding community, so they have likely made some minor progress, but they are still likely some fifty to sixty years behind what you are accustomed to,_ ” Yue supplied for the girls. 

“ _I see... well, then a normal camera it will just have to be! Season 3 must be recorded, even if only by photograph! We'll just have to artificially re-create it for film over the school breaks! Do you think Illusion-san would work?_ ” Tomoyo chattered determinedly.

“ _Season 3 of what?_ ” Touya asked as he entered, having just come back from one of his countless part-time jobs.

“ _The adventures of Magical Girl Cardcaptor Sakura!_ ” Tomoyo explained amid the many greetings of “okairi” that greeted the moody teen before giving one of her own.

“ _Tadaima, I thought that whole thing with the missing cards over the summer was supposed to be Season 3?_ ” Touya nagged the small black haired girl as he made himself comfortable on the couch. 

“ _Oh no, that didn't last anywhere near long enough to be qualified as a season!_ ” Tomoyo exclaimed, politely ignoring the fact that Yue chose this moment to become sociable enough to join the others around the coffee table, and that his chosen seat was between herself and the new arrival to the room. “ _That wouldn't be more than a movie. Or, perhaps an OVA... or a sub-arc? Anyway, there's not enough to it to last a full length of a season!_ ”

“ _Hoeeeeee..._ ”

* * *

– (1) Keep in mind, this story takes place in 1995, so when Kero says “start of the century”, he's referring to the 20th century, not the 21st.

* * *

Li Xiao Lang wandered leisurely back to the hotel from the Leaky Cauldron. Once again, he had spent his day for as long as he could stand it wandering up and down Daigon Alley. It had been a little over a week since his sisters had returned to China, leaving the young heir far more relaxed now that he was on his own again than he ever could be when under the constant scrutiny of his family members, whether they were intending to scrutinize or not.

Tom, the bar tender of the Leaky Cauldron, had become accustomed to Xiao Lang's comings and goings from his pub, and always had a smile and a comment of some sort when the Chinese boy made his way through the shop. That was how he had first heard of the strange occurrences happening in and around Daigon Alley the last two weeks. Tom had stopped him at the time of the first incident, which occurred only a few days after Xiao Lang had first been introduced to the magical rift, mentioning something about a “You-Know-Who” being up to no good.

He had insisted that the young eleven year old boy shouldn't go to the alley, even with his sisters still present at the time, insisting that it wasn't safe because of this person that he seemed to think the Li children should recognize by such vague phrases. It had sounded to Xiao Lang as if he were trying to be some bad spy movie character, going on about a you-know-who doing some you-know-what type things. As it turned out when the five siblings had merely pushed on into the alley despite his warnings, that the you-know-what was the book store exploding out into the street.

For whatever strange reason, the spells that had folded space allowing for all the books to be put into a larger building than the building actually was, had failed. The result was that all the store's contents had been ejected into the street, which had apparently never happened before to local knowledge. Surrounding shops were also effected, though not to the same extent, and the whole of the alley's populous were muttering about acts of some “he-who-must-not-be-named”.

Xiao Lang, being a sorcerer who had been trained in such things since he had been able to stand, could tell that the shop had been purified of it's magical residue form centuries of spells and magical books being used in that place. It was refreshing and familiar, in this chaotic maze of presences and layers upon layers of long-dead spells. Yet the locals were convinced that this was some malicious act aimed to destroy the education system so there would be no opposition.

The local law enforcement were out in full force at the sight, doing their best to hush up people and insist that this “You-Know-Who” wasn't around. It seemed to Xiao Lang to be a scene of paranoia and propaganda that lead to the Lis leaving early that day.

The spells had all been re-cast, and two thirds of the books had been declared ruined merchandise—though Xiao Lang didn't see what was wrong with them, they merely no longer moved or talked or what ever else on their own anymore and functioned as normal books instead—and became open to the public once more. Since then Xiao Lang had been using it as a reprieve sight when wandering through Daigon Alley, as it was still one of the cleanest locations around.

Furthermore, the odd occurrences of magic going missing continued up and down the alleyway at various times, though nothing as drastic as the first. Three other shops had their contents spilled into the street, including one on the side-alley that Xiao Lang had come to learn was supposedly a “dark wizard's” alley known as Knockturn. When even the Leaky Cauldron was hit, resulting in no less than seven muggles entering it before the protection spells could all be reapplied, the whole of the wizarding population seemed to be up in arms.

Xiao Lang remembered that he had nearly been included in the group of muggles that were going to have their memories erased, but Tom had spoken up quickly and vouched that the boy had been visiting daily for over a week by that point. While all the local theories were screaming about attacks from nameless people and what seemed like death-eating monsters of some sort, Xiao Lang was pretty sure that some spirit or minor god had decided to move in and make a lunch of all the spare magical energy.

Though that was his theory, he cursed himself for being too weak to be able to track this spirit in any way. He had spent, yet again, nearly half his day wandering around trying to catch some sort of sense of the strange spirit, but in a place that was so overflowing with magical presences, he hadn't had any real success so far. He wasn't going to acknowledge the fact that his mind kept wandering back to a certain green eyed little girl rather than his search was affecting anything at all. He had been thinking of her too much lately, and it was playing hell with his senses, causing him to keep mistaking feelings for shadows of her presence.

He had finally called it a day when evening started to fall and he decided to go back to the hotel and have some diner before spending the night meditating or perhaps practising his sword technique in order to clean out his senses for tomorrow's visit. And so here he was, nearly back in his temporary living quarters when something clicked.

He knew that feeling, even in his exhaustion from spending time in the magical rift, he knew that over-powering presence even before he had come to the entry hall of the hotel. Xiao Lang paused momentarily to straiten his clothes and brush his fingers through his hair in some semblance of tidying up before he went up to his room and faced his all powerful mother.

He entered the hotel calmly, head held high and shoulders back as any heir ought. This was not the time for being exhausted, nor was it the time to mourn his lost freedom. If he did not arrive punctually and perfectly for his mother, she would be upset. Or worse, she wold be disappointed. He really didn't want his mother to be disappointed with him, that felt like it would be worse than any other person feeling it towards him, save perhaps Sakura.

You see, Xiao Lang's mother was the image of perfection. She was strong, and beautiful, and even the stuffy clan Elders groveled before her graceful figure. She was the granddaughter of Clow Reed from his last marriage, his closest living relative who had came and married Xiao Lang's father, the previous clan head. Xiao Lang recalled in his distant memories of his early childhood how his mother once smiled at him with loving adoration—or perhaps that was merely his second sister superimposed—but he had been so young when his father had died and his mother had been forced to step up and take his place.

He knew the reason she was so stern was because she had to be a strong leader, had to ensure he would be a strong leader in the future, and he really didn't want to waste her valuable time that she spent on him by being useless. He knew he had already failed her where the whole incident of the Clow Cards were concerned. Though he understood now that Clow Reed had meant for Sakura to have the cards and the Guardians because she was so much more powerful and wonderful than anyone else could be, he also knew that he was still a disappointment in the eyes of the Clan.

That he had lost in skill and power to a nobody who didn't even have a family line worth mentioning, and not only had he lost the Cards to her, but his heart as well... He was not the prodigy child that the Clan had believed, but a failure that had dragged not only his name through the mud but that of his mother, sisters, and whole Clan by association. How could his mother be anything but disappointed in him after something like that.

He didn't want to be a waste of her time any more, he wanted her to be proud of him—to love him—so he was aiming to change and grow into something of his own right. If he could not become the “next Clow Reed” because Sakura and Hiiragizawa already held that position between the two of them, then he would just have to make his name into a legend all by himself. Something new down a path that hadn't been walked before. Though, what that “new” was he wasn't yet sure, but that's why he had to go and find it, by seeking out ways beyond what he was already comfortable with.

With that reassuring thought flashing through his head, Xiao Lang opened the door to his room with as much confidence and pride as he could muster in her all-consuming presence. Walking quickly to her side, the young heir hardly took notice of the presence of the Li Clan's two new Guardian beasts that he had made in his rush to greet her. “ **Mu qin (1)...** ”

The head of the clan took a moment more to sip at her tea before setting it down and turning to address her only son. “ **You were out until late today, Xiao Lang.** ”

“ **Yes, Mu qin, I was at a local wizarding location, practising my concentration in preparation for my attending one of their magic schools,** ” Xiao Lang explained. 

“ **I see. Was it that shopping district your sisters informed me of?** ”

“ **Yes, Mu qin.** ”

“ **And how long were you able to stay there today?** ” Yelan questioned, pulling the small Sun Guardian into her lap and petting the child's ponytail as if it were some sort of pet. 

“ **I have been there since nearly nine this morning, with only a moderate headache,** ” he informed.

“ **That's nearly ten hours... Fudie reported that a week ago you showed signs of exhaustion after merely seven. You have improved, but with only a few more days left, do you think you have improved enough?** ”

“ **I will not—can not—run away from this,** ” Xiao Lang insisted, eyes burning with determination.

“ **You know that extreme exhaustion can kill you...** ” Yelan warned, only a bare shadow of concern tinting her level, commanding voice.

“ **Nothing is gained without risking a loss. There are no coincidences, everything happens for a reason, including this offer of transfer into Hogwarts. There is something to be gained at the end of this path, and I only have one chance to learn what that is. I-I wish to grow beyond that which has come before, but to do so I must take a path that is as unique as the goal I seek. Forgive my selfishness, Mu qin, but I can not stay in the shadow of Clow Reed forever, nor do I believe that is the place the Clan will shine at it's true potential. I must take this path and find what lays at the end of it,** ” the young heir reasoned. 

The matriarch was silent for a time, scrutinizing her youngest child, trying to locate that quiet, shy little boy that once clung so needingly to her skirts in the determined young man standing before her now. She knew with a word she could stop him, perhaps even spare his life, but he had chosen to argue for this, even against her who none in the Clan ever dared object to any more.

She supposed it was a little late in the game to decide to be-a-mother-first. She had given that path up long, long ago when her beloved died, and she chose to become the temporary head until her son was of age rather than see the Clan torn by war or fall under less adequate rule. She had chosen to place the lives and happiness of hundreds of Li Clan members above those of her own five children, and now she was forced to do the same once again.

“ **Very well, if that is your decision then so be it. The Elders request that after your failure to collect the Clow Cards in Japan that you be strictly evaluated for your candidacy as Clan Head, and as the current ruling body, I have chosen to be your judge. Whom better than myself, after all, to know what the heir needs to become a competent head,** ” she informed her son.

“ **Eh? But what about the Clan?** ” Xiao Lang asked in shock.

“ **It is being left in the joint care of your sisters and the Council of Elders for the daily concerns, and for anything more than that I will be in contact with them and able to return from time to time. As the matter stands now, I will be acting as a visiting diplomat from Hong Kong, here with my youngest two children to strengthen the bond of friendship with the Great Britain that officially owns us. What with that treaty nearly come to an end, we wish to maintain a profitable and friendly relationship with our long-time allies despite returning to our own rule.** ”

“ **Wait... two youngest? Is Feimei coming as well?** ” Xiao Lang questioned, confusion clouding his mind.

“ **No, this little one is,** ” Yelan responded, gesturing to the toddler-like Sun Guardian sitting within her lap. 

“ **Jiao Yang is going to be written off as my little sister? Is that actually going to work?** ” Xiao Lang pondered.

“ **It will under my claims. Your sisters and the Council have all agreed and the story has been set. If anyone should question beyond myself as to her identity, they will find nothing but unanimous confirmation from the Clan,** ” the matriarch informed. “ **It would be too difficult excuse her presence without making her a member of the head family, and the Elders expressed distress at the idea of their head and primary heir both being in potentially hostile territory without the protection of the Clan's Guardians, no matter how inexperienced they may yet be.**

“ **However, despite the Elders and my own best efforts, this child refuses to acknowledge the designation or cover story without her creator's approval. The issue of her stubbornness aside, the task therefore falls on you to explain everything satisfactorily to this little one so that our cover is not blown.** ”

Xiao Lang became acutely aware of the three sets of expectant eyes focused on his person. This idea, in itself, was mind boggling. In his orderly world of rules and expectations, the founding pinocle of truth was that his mother was the ultimate authority figure. For as far back as he could remember, her regal presence and astounding level of power always ensured complete obedience, and never did anyone look to him over her for confirmation of anything. In fact, it had always been the exact opposite. He had been allowed in the past to play the part of little prince, making small decisions and giving out little orders to train him for when he would take over, but before any order had ever been executed, eyes had always shifted past him to where his mother stood watching and listening, awaiting her silent gesture of support for his decisions.

But here the tables were turned, and the Guardians weren't even attempting to be subtle about it. Though they acknowledged Yelan as a Li, acknowledged all the Li Clan as being their charges, it seemed they had at some point in their formation designated him as there supreme Master. A little nervous at the way he was being given sudden power over his mother, Xiao Lang scrounged up an explanation for his little Sun Guardian.

“ **Tai—er, Jiao Yang, while we are away from Clan territory, when you're in your sealed form, people can't know you are a Guardian, right? But it will be too suspicious if you were just some random kid, and where I am going they wouldn't let you come if that were the case. So in order for you and Chandra to be able to come, you're going to have to pretend that you're part of the Li Clan. I need you to** **be my You mei(2), Li Jiao Yang, and I will be your Zhang xiong(3) and this will be your Mu qin. Do you understand?** ”

“ **No,** ” Tai Yang responded honestly with a shake of her head, “ **but if that is what Master wishes...** ”

“ **Not 'Master' in this form...** ” Xiao Lang reminded gently.

“ **Zhang xiong,** ” the newly appointed Li Jiao Yang amended.

Xiao Lang felt himself smile at his toddler-like Guardian, and reached down to pat her head, “ **That's a good girl,** ” he soothed as she buried her face in his palm and nuzzled like she were some sort of cat. 

“ **Me too! Me too!** ” cried Chandra, zooming up and burying herself in Xiao Lang's neck for a moment before reaching up and lapping at his cheek with her rough tongue. 

Yelan watched silently as her son bathed his imperfect creations in love and attention, praying that somehow, just as in the stories that she had heard growing up of her esteemed grandfather and his own masterly crafted guardians, as long as Xiao Lang had those two by his side he would really be able to face anything that came his way.

* * *

(1) – Ok, so for those who don't remember and can't simply figure it out from context, this is what the online dictionary told me is a very respectful way to address one's mother. Something along the lines of “Haha-ue” for those anime fans who recognize the term.

(2) - Like the above, this is a very respectful term for one's little sister.

(3) - And a brand new one here that intelligent people probably would have put together on their own due to context, this is a highly respectful way to say older brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided to cut this chapter off here as it's 17 pages already and the next batch of things to talk about all happen around the same subject and on the same day. The characters of Rei and Hikari are OC's that were introduced in the prequel “Birth of the Deck Master” to fill in places in the play the class preformed. I dragged them in to the party as “new friends” just to make the sleepover have more people at it and to voice angles in the girl talk that Sakura and her cannon friends wouldn't take on their own. Don't worry about them too much, because after the next chapter we (hopefully) finally get everyone on the train and those two are going to more or less vanish save for occasional mention in letters. 
> 
> On one final note, this chapter is being dedicated to Lovely Lady A who left such a nice review for me. Yes, I am still working on this story, but as a full time biology student in my sixth year of university, I have little more than half an hour a day to do with as I please, and many interests beyond just CCS and HP. So if I don't have people talking at me about my story, it's hard to find the inspiration to sit down and work on it. I hate to sound like I'm begging for reviews, but really the greatest inspiration for a writer is to be reminded that people do actually enjoy reading your work. And the best way to remind is with questions, or critical feedback. Tell me what you liked out of a chapter, rather than merely that you liked it, or what you didn't like for those moments where you thought things weren't very well written. Ask me about things you're curious on, even if it's something as simple as “what houses will they be in?” or “what's going on with this character?” Knowing that people are doing more than just giving the story a cursory glance and backing out really means a lot to a writer. So even if all it is is bombarding me with PMs every now and again to ask “have you put any more work into this story yet?” it will get me to write a lot more often and hopefully get the next chapter out before this time next year. 
> 
> So to leave my readers with a sense of a cliffhanger, changes are starting to amass and strange things are being put into motion, how are things going to turn out? What will change and what will stay the same? What is going on with that strange spirit Xiao Lang has found? And will Sakura manage to keep her conviction of not letting him go? And when WILL they find out that they are both attending Hogwarts? Theorize, rant, or dredge up more questions beyond these few that I came up with off the top of my head. I'm giving up on trying to get people to play the trivia games with me for bonus scenes as no one has answered any trivia questions yet, so instead if you inspire me enough I'll send you one as a present. So for Lovely Lady A, if you could get back in touch with me and give me some means of contact, I will send you your choice of the four bonus scenes I have written so far: 1) a glance at Clow Reed's early life, 2) the first day of Eriol's life, 3) how Kaho met Eriol's family, or 4) Yukito's first time of seeing what Yue looks like. Or if those aren't your cup of tea, you can hold off on it and get a scene later, which include character topics of Touya, Fujitaka, Nakuru, Suppi, Yue, Eriol again, and another two on Clow.


End file.
